The aim of this research is to study the elementary steps during adsorption, reaction, and desorption on metal oxide surfaces and elucidate how the surface geometric and electronic structures control the branching among different surface reaction pathways.

The subsequent TPD scan showed no desorption products upon resistive heating of the sample to 750 ?C. Therefore based upon no significant C 1s peak or other peak features in the XPS spectra, this work definitively shows that the (1x1) surface is not active for methyl radical absorption. While the exact surface structure is not known, and therefore a surface structure-reactivity relationship cannot be extracted, the data taken shows the validity and reproducibility of the techniques used for future studies.

From comparison of the structures and any spectroscopic data that is gathered, it would be possible to compare and contrast any observed reactivities in order to elucidate which of the different oxygen coordination environments, if any, is the active site for certain chemical reactions.

The ultimate goal of this research is to provide a more fundamental understanding of which sites are catalytically active and how the surrounding chemical environment affects this activity. While the work thus far has focused solely on SrTiO3, there are other systems that may be studied. As mentioned, SrTiO3 is often used as a model for other perovskites. Therefore, once the work on the surfaces of SrTiO3 is complete, it would be extremely interesting to see if the results apply to other oxides such as LaAlO3 or LaMnO3, for example. LaAlO3 is another oxide that is readily available from many crystal manufacturers. On the other hand, LaMnO3 is still being looked into, as there are very few, if any, crystal growers who would supply this crystal, since it is very difficult to grow due to twinning that occurs at the temperatures used for growing. It is important though, that a complete picture of the SrTiO3 surface first be completed before attempting another crystal system. By completing the work on SrTiO3 first, the results could be reproduced on other surfaces/materials which would imply that a fundamental understanding on a catalytic reaction was obtained, and lead the way for the production of better catalysts on a molecular level.