Preparation, characterisation and structure of Ti and Alultrathin oxide films on metals

摘要

The growth of ultrathin oxide films on metal substrates offers a solution to manyof the experimental difficulties inherent to the studies of surfaces of bulk oxidesand provides new interesting materials with unprecedented structures andproperties. In this article we review the preparation and characterisationof ultrathin titanium oxide (TiO_x) and aluminium oxide (AlO_films grown onmetal and metal alloy surfaces, emphasising those results that highlight newconcepts and insights into metal oxide surface physics and chemistry. Differentmethods of preparation and characterisation are discussed and the resultingchemical compositions and surface structures are described by taking intoaccount the results provided by computational approaches, and putting emphasisin outlining the structural novelty of interface-stabilised versus bulk-like phasesand on the importance of kinetic effects in orienting the growth.