Adsorption of HCl on the water ice surface studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

The adsorption state of HCl at 20 and 90 K on crystalline water ice films deposited under ultrahigh vacuum at 150 K has been studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the O1s K-edge and Cl2p L-edge. We show that HCl dissociates at temperatures as low as 20 K, in agreement with the prediction of a spontaneous ionization of HCl on ice. Comparison between the rate of saturation of the "dangling" hydrogen bonds and the chlorine uptake indicates that hydrogen bonding of HCl with the surface native water "dangling" groups only accounts for a small part of the ionization events (20% at 90 K). A further mechanism drives the rest of the dissociation/solvation process. We suggest that the weakening of the ice surface hydrogen-bond network after the initial HCl adsorption phase facilitates the generation of new dissociation/solvation sites, which increases the uptake capacity of ice. These results also emphasize the necessity to take into account not only a single dissociation event but its catalyzing effect on the subsequent events when modeling the uptake of hydrogen-bonding molecules on the ice surface.