Adhesion at ceramic/metal (C/M) interfaces often controls the macroscopic behavior of materials containing metallic and ceramic phases, and experimental studies of bonding at C/M interfaces have recently been reported. Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) offers unique opportunities to examine bonding at interfaces on an atomic scale. The EELS near edge fine structure is sensitive to local atomic arrangements and thus can be used as a coordination fingerprint. Much more can be done, however, by analyzing the connection between the EELS fine structure, the underlying local electronic structure and the cohesive energy of an interface to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the adhesion at the interface.In this work, we apply high spatial-resolution EELS instrument to study {222} MgO/Cu interfaces produced by internal oxidation. We determine interfacial chemistry of this interface with subnanometer resolution (Fig. 1) and use EELS to directly measure the electronic states pertaining to the interface
Rotational and fine structure of open-shell molecules in nearly degenerate electronic states
