Electron energy loss spectroscopy of real surfaces

Abstract

High resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (ELS) has found wide application in chemisorption studies on single crystal surfaces. This paper reviews some of the literature and the authors' work on organic overlayers on non-crystalline surfaces to indicate the opportunities and problems faced in ELS studies on non-single crystal surfaces. The capabilities for identifying molecular functional groups on real surfaces versus single crystals are emphasized. The effect of the lack of angular dependence on the information available from the spectra of disordered surfaces is discussed. As a model case, the authors have compared ordered Langmuir-Blodgett films on substrates with overlayers of the same molecules deposited in a disorganized manner.