Deposition of copper multilayers on Au(111) in sulfuric acid solution: An electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy study

Abstract

The co-adsorption of submono-, mono- and multi-layers of Cu with sulfate anions on a Au(111) electrode surface was investigated in electrochemical environment (0.1 mM CuSO4 + 0.1 M H2SO4) by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and in-situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Correlated with the STM investigations the CV measurements indicate co-adsorption/-desorption processes of Cu of submono-, mono- and multi-layer coverages with sulfuric acid species on Au(111). The formation of a quasi-hexagonal Moiré superstructure on terraces of copper multilayers was observed in situ by STM. In detail the observed Moiré-structure is similar but not identical to the one observed on the (111) surface of bulk copper. High resolution STM images show the formation of a 3×7-like sulfate structure on all multilayer copper terraces.