Chemical energy dissipation at surfaces under UHV and high pressure conditions studied using metal–insulator–metal and similar devices

Abstract

Metal heterostructures have been used in recent years to gain insights into the relevance of energy dissipation into electronic degrees of freedom in surface chemistry. Non-adiabaticity in the surface chemistry results in the creation of electron–hole pairs, the number and energetic distribution of which need to be studied in detail. Several types of devices, such as metal–insulator–metal, metal–semiconductor and metal–semiconductor oxide–semiconductor, have been used. These devices operate by spatially separating the electrons from the holes, as an internal barrier allows only – or at least favours – transport from the top to the back electrode for one kind of carrier. An introduction into the matter, a survey of the literature and a critical discussion of the state of research is attempted.