HREELS AND RAIRS - A COMPLETE VIBRATIONAL STUDY OF THE SURFACE BENZOATE SPECIES ADSORBED ON COPPER

Despite major instrumental advances in both high resolution electron e nergy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) and reflection absorption infrared sp ectroscopy (RAIRS), it is still advantageous to use both techniques to gain a more complete understanding of the vibrational properties of m olecules adsorbed at surfaces. The strengths and limitations, even wit h state of the art techniques, are illustrated with an analysis of res ults for the surface benzoate species (C6H5CO2) chemisorbed on Cu(110) and Cu(100) surfaces. In particular, these are demonstrated with rega rd to understanding the bonding and orientation of the molecular speci es at the surface and the importance of spectral resolution, spectral range, excitation mechanism and signal-to-background ratio.