Surface photo-response of nanostructure metal oxides using high vacuum kelvin probe technique

Abstract

The Kelvin Probe (KP) is a non-contact, non-destructive vibrating capacitor device used to measure the work function difference, or for non-metals, the surface potential, between a conducting specimen and a vibrating tip. The Kelvin method was firstly postulated by the renowned Scottish scientist W. Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, in 1861. In this work, a high vacuum KP system incorporating with light source is setup to characterize the surface photo-response of novel nanosized semiconductive metal oxides( NMO) materials, which possess superior photocatalytic properties. [4th Award]