A contribution to the surface characterization of alkali metal sulfates

•Full electronic characterization of alkali metals sulfates by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy.•Curve-fitting of SKLL signals makes possible to clarify the role of the cation in the series of alkali metal sulfates.•Differences in the binding energies and Auger parameter are discussed in terms of the electronic properties and the polarizability of the cation.•The line intensities are analyzed and a thorough quantitative analysis is presented. The analytical characterization of surfaces of sulfur-bearing samples that present sulfides, polysulfides and/or elemental sulfur as reaction products can be difficult by simply relying on the binding energy of the S2p X-ray photoelectron signals, due to the small chemical shifts. In such cases the Auger parameter concept can be used to distinguish among different chemical states, but this requires a model to curve fit complex Auger SKLL signals in order to resolve the contributions arising from sulfur in different chemical states on the surface. With this scope a detailed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy (XAES) surface analytical study of the group IA sulfates is presented in this paper. Sulfates were chosen as model compounds for curve fitting the X-ray induced SKLL spectra since in these compounds sulfur is present in a unique chemical state. For the first time the multicomponent SKLL spectra are fitted with model functions consisting of an intense 1D and a low intensity 1S contribution with constant energy difference of 8eV. It was found that the kinetic energy of the SK2,3L2,3 (1D) line increases from 2105.1±0.1 to 2107.5±0.2eV whereas the corresponding S2p3/2 binding energy decreases from 169.5±0.1eV for Li2SO4 to 167.8±0.1eV for Cs2SO4. Shifts to lower binding energy values are observed also for S2p, S2s and O1s peaks. In the chemical state plot the alkali sulfates fall on a line with an Auger parameter of ca. 2275eV whereas elemental sulfur is found at 2277eV. A shift of 0.6eV in the calculated Auger parameter α′ is observed from 2274.7±0.1eV for Li to 2275.3±0.2eV for Cs sulfate. These results are discussed with respect to the influence of the cation using fundamental data and concepts such as ion radius, oxidation state and ionization energy, and separating intra-atomic and inter-atomic effects. All the information show a relatively small interaction between the sulfate anion and the cations as a consequence of