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Science 20 September 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5589, p. 1953
DOI: 10.1126/science.297.5589.1953h
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Most metals tarnish quickly in air, but under very low pressure conditions, many metals absorb oxygen but fail to oxidize. Thürmer et al. (p. 2033; see the Perspective by Over and Seitsonen) used scanning tunneling microscopy to show that for lead, impurities are the key to oxidation. Clean lead crystallites, even at elevated temperatures, did not oxidize after exposure to many monolayers of oxygen. By changing temperatures slightly, the shape of the crystallite could be changed, and this process could expose impurities. The unburied impurities rapidly nucleated lead oxide. An analysis of the oxide growth shows how the oxide, once formed, catalyzes its own growth.

Figure 1
CREDIT: THÜRMER ET AL.




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