Correlation between surface stress and the vibrational shift of CO chemisorbed on Cu surfaces

We demonstrate a correlation between the frequency of the (CO) stretch vibration of chemisorbed CO and the surface stress of Cu substrates. The surface stress is tailored by pseudomorphic growth of Cu multilayers on mismatched single crystal substrates. The CO stretch frequency is found to vary linearly with the inherent copper strain. An intuitive model to explain this intriguing relation is proposed.