Oxalic acid adsorption states on the clean Cu(110) surface

Carboxylic acids are known to assume a variety of configurations on metallic surfaces. In particular oxalic acid on the Cu(110) surface has been proposed to assume a number of upright configurations. Here we explore with DFT calculations the possible structures that oxalic acid can form on copper 110 at different protonation states, with particular attention at the possibility of forming structures composed of vertically standing molecules. In its fully protonated form it is capable of anchoring itself on the surface thanks to one of its hydrogen-free oxygens. We show the monodeprotonated upright molecule with two oxygens anchoring it on the surface to be the lowest energy conformation of a single oxalic molecules on the Cu(110) surface. We further show that it is possible for this configuration to form dense hexagonally arranged patterns in the unlikely scenario in which adatoms are not involved. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.