Chemical composition and reactivity of water on clean and oxygen-covered Pd{111}

Gladys, M.J., El-Zein, A.A., Mikkelsen, A., Andersen, J.N. and Held, G. (2008) Chemical composition and reactivity of water on clean and oxygen-covered Pd{111}. Surface Science, 602 (22). pp. 3540-3549. ISSN 0039-6028 doi: 10.1016/j.susc.2008.09.031

Abstract/Summary

The chemical composition and dissociation behaviour of water adsorbed on clean and oxygen pre-covered Pd{111} was studied using high-resolution time-resolved and temperature-programmed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. We find that water remains intact at all temperatures up to desorption on the clean surface and at high oxygen coverage(0.69 ML) when a surface oxide is formed. The highest desorption peaks occur at 163 K from the clean surface and at 172 K from the surface oxide. At the intermediate coverage of 0.20 ML oxygen reacts with coadsorbed water at 155 K, to generate a mixed H2O/OH layer exhibiting a (root 3- x root 3)R30 degrees diffraction pattern, which is stable up to 177 K. The measured ratio between intact water and the hydroxyl species in this layer varies between 1.5 and 2 depending on temperature. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.