Chemisorption of halogens on silver a critical comparison of results from photqemission and thermal desorption spectroscopy

Conflicting thermal desorption (TDS) results from submonolayer coverages of atomic Cl, Br or I on Ag(100), Ag(110) or Ag(111) stimulated us to check for the possible influence of different sample preparation procedures. We present experimental evidence, that a combined approach using TDS and angle-resolved ultraviolet photoemission may help to distinguish between better and worse surface preparation. We present detailed new results for the Cl/Ag(110) system. From our observations we conclude that all three halogens listed above give one and only one TDS peak in the submonolayer regime and show very similar adsorption/desorption-characteristics. This fact removes the apparent contradictions reported in the literature and demonstrates that the halogen-Ag bond is not very sensitive to the surface crystallography.