Role of Deprotonation and Cu Adatom Migration in Determining the Reaction Pathways of Oxalic Acid Adsorption on Cu(111)

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and first principles theoretical calculations have been used to gain insight into the fundamental processes involved in the adsorption and self-assembly of oxalic acid on Cu(111). The experimental data demonstrate that several reaction pathways are involved in the chemisorption of oxalic acid on Cu(111), one of which leads to deprotonation of the acid into oxalate molecules that form ordered structures on the surface. Theoretical calculations indicate that the adsorption of oxalate molecules is not stable on the surface unless copper adatoms are taken into consideration. Coordination with copper adatoms prevents ox…