Inter-row Adsorption Configuration and Stability of Threonine Adsorbed on the Ge(100) Surfaces

The adsorption structures of threonine on the Ge(100) surface were investigated using core-level photoemission spectroscopy (CLPES) in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. CLPES measurements were performed to identify the experimentally preferred adsorption structure. The preferred structure indicated the relative reactivities of the carboxyl and hydroxymethyl groups as electron donors to the Ge(100) surface during adsorption. The core-level C 1s, N 1s, and O 1s CLPES spectra indicated that the carboxyl oxygen competed more strongly with the hydroxymethyl oxygen during the adsorption reaction. Three among six possible adsorption structures were identified as energetically favorable using DFT calculation methods that considered the inter- and intra-bonding configurations upon adsorption onto the Ge(100) surface. These structures were O-H dissociated N dative inter bonding, O-H dissociated N dative intra bonding, O-H dissociation bonding. One of the adsorption structures: O-H dissociated N dative inter bonding was predicted to be stable in light of the transition state energies. We thus confirmed that the most favorable adsorption structure is the O-H dissociated N dative-inter bonding structure using CLPES and DFT calculation.