THE SURFACE-STRUCTURE OF FLAME-ANNEALED AU(100) IN AQUEOUS-SOLUTION -AN STM STUDY

The initial structure of flame-annealed Au(100) surfaces has been stud ied in air and in 0.1 M H2SO4 by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). It is shown that before, during and after contact with the electrolyt e, at potentials sufficiently negative to prevent specific adsorption of anions, the flame-annealed Au(100) surface is reconstructed into ex actly the same ''hex'' form as a surface which has been prepared by an nealing in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). However, the quality of the reconst ructed surface depends sensitively on the sample preparation and on th e experimental conditions of the flame-annealing procedure. The influe nce of the cooling procedure after flame annealing on the initial surf ace structure of the Au(100) electrode is demonstrated and briefly dis cussed in the light of results published previously.