Origin and Processes of O-Cu(001) and the O-Cu(110) Biphase Ordering

Abstract

From the perspective of bond forming, origin of phase-formation on the O-Cu(001) and the O-Cu(110)is analyzed. It is suggested that the formation of the O -1 and the hybridized- O -2 gives in nature the c (2 × 2)-O and subsequently, the [Formula: see text]phase, on the Cu(001). The re-ordering of the primary Cu2O units transforms the Cu(110)-(2×1)-O into the c (6 × 2)-O. As consequences of the O-2 -hybridization, the Cu(001)-[Formula: see text] differs from the Cu(110)-(2×1)-O in origin by nothing more than that the -O-Cu-chain rotates 45° to fit itself to the coordination-surrounding. It proposed that one metal atom may donate more than one-electron to different oxygen atoms. However, one oxygen, with two directional bonding orbitals and two nonbonding orbitals, can never get more than one-electron from a specific metal atom. The sp-hybridization of oxygen cannot occur before its two bonding orbitals are fully occupied. Besides the ionization of oxygen and metal atoms, the polarization of the metal and the hybridization of O -2 dominate the processes of oxidation and the behavior of the oxides. Further considerations are required regarding how the O-coverage reversibly varies the valence-state of oxygen, and how the coverage and temperature reassemble the Cu2O on the Cu(110).