Near ambient pressure photoelectron spectro-microscopy: from gas-solid interface to operando devices

TL;DR

This paper reviews Near Ambient Pressure Scanning Photoelectron Microscopy, a technique that enables chemical analysis of samples in realistic gas environments at high spatial resolution, facilitating fundamental and applied research including operando device studies.

Contribution

It introduces a unique setup combining high-resolution microscopy with gas-pressure control, enabling in situ analysis of gas-solid interfaces and active devices.

Findings

Demonstrated gas sensitivity of metal oxides and semiconductors.

Showcased operando experiments on active devices.

Highlighted potential for fundamental and applied research.

Abstract

Near Ambient Pressure Scanning Photoelectron Microscopy adds to the widely used photoemission spectroscopy and its chemically selective capability two key features: (i) the possibility to chemically analyse samples in a more realistic environmental, gas pressure condition, and (ii) the capability to investigate a system at the relevant spatial scale. To achieve these goals the approach developed at the ESCA Microscopy beamline at the Elettra Synchrotron facility combines the submicron lateral resolution of a Scanning Photoelectron Microscope with a custom designed Near Ambient Pressure Cell where a gas pressure up to 0.1 mbar is confined inside it around the sample. In this manuscript a review of experiments performed with this unique setup will be presented to illustrate its potentiality in both fundamental and applicative research such as the oxidation reactivity and gas sensitivity of metal oxides and semiconductors. In particular the capability to do operando experiment with this setup opens the possibility to perform investigations with active devices to properly address the real nature of the studied systems, because it can yield to more conclusive results when microscopy and spectroscopy are simultaneously combined in a single technique.