NEXAFS study of 1-butanethiol adsorbed on Cu(111) and × R19.1° S/Cu(111)

The adsorption of 1-butanethiol on Cu(111) and × R19.1° S/Cu(111) surfaces has been studied by S K-edge near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy and thermal desorption spectroscopy. Upon adsorption on clean Cu(111) surface at room temperature, butanethiolate as well as atomic sulfur is formed. For the butanethiolate, S-C bond is found predominately perpendicular to the surface as revealed by polarization analysis. In contrast, on × R19.1° S/Cu(111) surface, the S-H and S-C bonds of the butanethiol stays intact, resulting in a weakly chemisorbed butanethiol.