Bernhard von Boehn, Jon-Olaf Krisponeit, Jens Falta, and Ronald Imbihl

Journal of Physical Chemistry C (2021), 125, 22539–22546

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c06106

With LEEM (low-energy electron microscopy) and micro-LEED as in situ techniques we have studied the structural transitions in the excitation of traveling interface pulses (TIPs) in bistable methanol oxidation on a bare Rh(110) and on a Rh(110) surface covered with a 0.1 monolayer of V oxide in the 10^–4 mbar range. Close to equistability, a (1×1) structure coexists with O-induced reconstructions of the “missing row” type at the interface. An oxidation pulse traveling along the interface exhibits a substructure consisting of various reconstructions of the “missing row” type; on the reduced surface, the slow development of a c(2×2) structure is accompanied by a strong loss of the (0,0)-beam intensity. The addition of 0.1 monolayer of V oxide increases structural disorder but causes no qualitative changes in the structural transitions.