A spatially resolved investigation of oxygen adsorption on polycrystalline copper and titanium by means of photoemission electron microscopy

The interaction of oxygen with polycrystalline copper and titanium surfaces was studied by means of photoemission electron microscopy. Variations in the image brightness were used to determine the work function of different Cu crystallites. The change of the work function was monitored during oxygen adsorption on both, Cu and Ti. Those changes are smooth for Cu whereas different Ti crystallites exhibit a rather complicated behavior during oxygen adsorption. The transformation of brightness versus exposure curves into work function versus coverage curves allows to determine the initial dipole moment of the adsorbed oxygen atoms. A value of about 20 mD was found for O on Cu(1 1 0). Variations of the initial sticking probability of oxygen on different copper crystallites were directly mapped.