Effects of acoustic waves generated on a positively polarized lead strontium zirconium titanate substrate upon catalytic activity of a deposited Ag thin film

A positively polarized lead strontium zirconium titanate (PSZT) substrate was employed for the generation of thickness-extensional mode resonance oscillation (TERO), and the effects of TERO on the catalytic activity and the surface properties of a 100-nm Ag film catalyst deposited on the substrate were investigated. The catalytic activity for ethanol oxidation increased 18-fold with TERO at 3 W. In low energy photoelectron spectroscopy, a threshold energy for photoelectric emission from the Ag surface shifted linearly to the lower energy side with increasing power of TERO, thus indicating a decrease in the work function of the Ag surface. On the basis of the behavior of lattice displacement measured by a laser Doppler method, a model for changes in catalytic activity and work function is proposed.