A study of nitric oxide adsorbed on nickel oxide,cobalt oxide,and graphite by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

The nitrogen 1s binding energy of nitric oxide adsorbed on nickel oxide, cobalt oxide and graphite was measured at several temperatures by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. For the oxides, a temperature dependent range of binding energies was observed, but for graphite the nitrogen 1s binding energy was independent of temperature. The values obtained suggest that significant back donation of electrons occurs from the oxides to the adsorbed nitric oxides, but no back donation occurs from graphite to adsorbed nitric oxide. However, adsorption did not cause changes in the binding energy of substrate core electrons. It is believed that unless the mean free path of electrons is short, the total photoelectron signal will not reveal changes in binding energy of electrons from substrate atoms at the surface.