The adsorption of ammonia on an Fe(110) single-crystal surface studied by high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy (eels)

The EELS spectra of ammonia adsorbed on an Fe(110) surface at 110 K reveal four different adsorption states of molecular ammonia with increasing coverage : chemisorption at “on-top” sites, chemisorption at multi-coordinated sites, adsorption in a second layer, and multilayer condensation.Thermal processing of an ammonia-covered sample to 155 K causes desorption of both the condensed phase and the second layer without any fragmentation of ammonia.Further heating of the sample leads to a much weaker desorption of molecular ammonia up to a temperature of 260 K. EELS spectra recorded after heating to 290 K show only small amounts of atomic nitrogen and hydrogen present on the surface, indicating partial decomposition of ammonia.The formation of species such as NH₂ (ads) or NH (ads) during the thermal-processing experiments could not be observed.