Electrifying surface science

摘要

Surface science has allowed uncovering many crucial fundamental aspects of heterogeneous catalysis. In combination with model catalysts, it has served as a playground to deepen the atomic-level understanding of single crystals, thin films and supported particles in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions. Surface science studies under electrochemical environments, on the other hand, for their most part have been constrained to single crystal electrodes. Now, Jorg Libuda, Olaf Brummel and co-workers present a general strategy to combine model catalysts prepared in UHV conditions with an electrochemical environment.