Adsorption of Ethyl Ether on Graphene/Silicon – Theory and Experiment

T. Stach 1, Md Arif Uddin 1, Uwe Burghaus 1, Trung T. Pham 2, Robert Sporken 2, Abdolvahab Seif 3, Alberto Ambrosetti 3, Pier Luigi Silvestrelli 3

1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, North Dakota State University (NDSU), 1311 Albrecht Blvd, Sugihara Hall, Fargo, ND, 58102, USA, uwe.burghaus@ndsu.edu
2) Département de physique, Namur Research Institute for Structured Matter, Université de Namur (UNamur), Rue de Bruxelles 61 - 5000 Namur, Belgium
3) Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universit di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131, Padova, Italy

Surface Science, in press

https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0039-6028(25)00115-3
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susc.2025.122808
ISSN 0039-6028

Abstract: Adsorption of ethyl ether, CH3CH2–O–CH2CH3 (or C4H10O or (CH3CH2)2O), on graphene/Si(111) (hereafter Gr/Si(111)) was characterized by kinetics (multi-mass thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS), steady-state rate measurements) and spectroscopic (Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman) techniques as well as by density functional theory calculations (DFT) as a potential metal-free catalyst. TDS results agree with the expected fragmentation pattern of molecular ethyl ether. AES and XPS spectra collected after ethyl ether adsorption are identical with data for pristine Gr/Si(111). Therefore, ethyl ether adsorbs molecularly, consistent with large activation energies for dissociation calculated by the DFT.

Keywords: Catalysis; Graphene; carbon catalysts; kinetics; spectroscopy; DFT

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