The UV-vis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instrument (UPS/XPS) is an essential tool to quantify chemical elements and the bonding of atoms within the top 2 to 10 nm of the sample surface and to study the work function and valence band of new materials in the areas of electronics, sensors, nanomaterials, catalysis, and energy.

The UPS/XPS is critical for current research at WSU for the development of next-generation electronics, biomedical applications (biosensing, harmonic sensing), and several energy applications (catalysis, fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries and energy sustainability). The Fisher Scientific Nexsa is located in the Lumigen Instrument Center (LIC) room 40 (NMR Laboratory). Researchers can submit samples for analysis or undergo training as part of the educational/training with major research instrumentation.

Location

A. Paul Schaap Chemistry Building, Room 50.1

Timeline of events

• Nov. 1, 2020: The XPS is open for training
• June 1, 2020: XPS is back running samples for users
• March 20, 2020: Due to COVID-19 LIC is closed
• Dec. 1, 2019: Started running samples for users
• Sept. 30, 2019: Scheduled installation
• Sept. 12, 2019: The UPS/XPS has arrived

User groups

• Eranda Nikolla group, College of Engineering
• Charles Winter group, Department of Chemistry
• Long Luo group, Department of Chemistry
• Aaron Rury group, Department of Chemistry
• Stephanie Brock group, Department of Chemistry
• Federico Rabuffetti group, Department of Chemistry
• Leela Arava group, College of Engineering
• Guru Dinda group, College of Engineering
• Applied Materials, Inc

Statement of acknowledgment

The Nexsa was procured with the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (NSF: MRI) grant. Please acknowledge this grant in publications, presentations, theses, and dissertations. A suggested statement can read: "This work made use of the UPS/XPS that is partially funded by National Science Foundation Award #1849578."

Publications

• Rajendran, S.; Pilli, A.; Omolere, O.; Kelber, J.; Arava, L. M. R. "An All-Solid-State Battery with a Tailored Electrode-Electrolyte Interface using Surface Chemistry and Interlayer-Based Approaches." Chemistry of Material, 2021, Just Accepted (doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.1c00747)
• Samira, S.; Camayang, J C. A.; Patel, K.; Gu, X. K.; Nikolla, E. "Modulating Catalytic Properties of Targeted Metal Cationic Centers in Nanstochiometric Mixed Metal Oxides for Electrochemical Oxygen Reduction." ACS Energy Letters, 2021, 6, 1065
• Mutinda, S. I.; Batugedara, T. N.; Brown, B.; Adeniran, O.; Liu, Z.-F.; Brock, S. L., "Rh₂P Activity at a Fraction of the Cost? Co_2-xRh_xP Nanoparticles as Electrocatalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media." ACS Applied Energy Materials, 2021, 4, 946
• Sanni, A. M.; Rury, A. S. "Kinetic Molecular Cationic Control of Defect-Induced Broadband Light Emission in 2D Hybrid Lead Iodide Perovskites." Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2021, 12, 101
• Hewa-Rahinduwage, C. C.; Geng, X.; Silva, K. L.; Niu, X.; Zhang, L.; Brock, S. L.; Luo, L. "Reversible Electrochemical Gelation of Metal Chalcogenide Quantum Dots." Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2020, 142, 12207
• F. de L. e Freitas, L., Puértolas, B., Zhang, J., Wang, B., Hoffman, A. S., Bare, S. R., Pérez-Ramírez, J., Medlin, J. W., Nikolla, E. "Tunable Catalytic Performance of Palladium Nanoparticles for H₂O₂ Direct Synthesis via Surface-Bound Ligands." ACS Catalysis, 2020, 10, 5202
• Dinesh K. Amarasinghe and Federico A. Rabuffetti "Bandshift Luminescence Thermometry Using Mn⁴⁺:Na₄Mg(WO₄)₃ Phosphors." Chemistry of Materials. 2019, 31, 24, 10197