| The modern ceria-zirconia based catalysts are used in automobiles to reduce exhaust pollutants. Cobalt germanides have potential applications as electrical contacts in the future Ge-based semiconductor devices. In this thesis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques were used to study the atomic scale interactions between metallic nanostructures and crystalline substrates in the two material systems mentioned above.; The model catalyst samples consisted of precious metal nano-particles (Pd, Rh) supported on the surface of (Ce,Zr)O2 thin films. The response of the microstructure of the metal-oxide interface to the reduction and oxidation treatments was investigated by cross-sectional high resolution TEM. Atomic detail of the metal-oxide interface was obtained. It was found that Pd and Rh showed different sintering and interaction behaviors on the oxide surface. The preferred orientation of Pd particles in this study was Pd(111)//CZO(111). Partial encapsulation of Pd particles by reduced (Ce,Zr)O 2 surface was observed and possible mechanisms of the encapsulation were discussed. The characteristics of the metal-oxide interaction depend on the properties of the oxide, as well as their relative orientation. The results provide experimental evidence for understanding the thermodynamics of the equilibrium morphology of a solid particle supported on a solid surface that is not considered as inert.; The reaction of Co with Ge to form epitaxial Co5Ge7 was studied by in situ ultra-high vacuum (UHV) TEM using two methods. One was reactive deposition of Co on Ge, in which the Ge substrate was maintained at 350°C during deposition. The other method was solid state reaction, in which the deposition of Co on Ge was carried out at room temperature followed by annealing to higher temperatures. During reactive deposition, the deposited Co reacted with Ge to form nanosized 3D Co 5Ge7 islands. During solid state reaction, a continuous epitaxial Co5Ge7 film on the (001) Ge substrate was formed at ∼300°C. With further annealing at a higher temperature, the continuous Co5Ge 7 layer broke into 3D islands in order to relieve the strain energy in the epitaxial Co5Ge7 layer. Electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction were used to identify the cobalt germanide phase and epitaxial orientation relationships with respect to the substrate. |
