Helium scattering and work function investigation of co adsorption on Pt(111) and vicinal surfaces

CO adsorption on Pt(111) and vicinal Pt(111) surfaces has been studied by means of work function variation and He scattering measurements. AES and LEED were used mainly for correlations with other work. Special attention has been paid to the low coverage regime (θ_co < 0.1) with emphasis on surface structural dependencies. The minimum of the work function versus CO exposure curve occurs at a coverage less than 11% on “kink-free” surfaces. This is much lower than the hitherto commonly accepted value of 33%, and does not relate to any observed LEED superstructure. The value of Δφ_min depends strongly on the surface structure. For an “ideal” Pt(111) surface with a step density less than 10^?3 at a temperature of 300 K, Δφ_min = ?240 meV. The scattering cross section Σ of CO adsorbed on Pt(111) for 63 meV He is typically > 250 Ų, i.e. much larger than expected from the Van der Waals radii of He and CO. For two nominal Pt(111) surfaces with step densities of 10^?2 and less than 10^?3, respectively, the measured Σ values varied by a factor of three. This can be explained by preferential CO occupation of defect sites, which are already not “seen” by thermal helium. By comparing results on a stepped (997) and a kinked (12 11 9) Pt surface with similar defect densities, the kinks are proven to play a decisive role. They probably form saddles in the recently proposed activation barrier for migration between terrace and step sites.     

The scattering of hydrogen,deuterium, and the rare gases from silver (111) single crystals

The scattering of hydrogen, deuterium, and the rare gases from the (111) face of silver has been studied at ultrahigh vacuum. The surfaces were prepared by argon ion bombardment and high temperature annealing. Incident angles between 20° and 65° and surface temperatures between room temperature and 573°K have been investigated. The scattering data exhibit quasi-elastic scattering (He, H₂, D₂), inelastic scattering (Ne, Ar, Kr), and trapping dominated scattering (Xe). Identification of these scattering regimes correlates with D/kT_g and is consistent with similar data from Pt(111) and W(110). The separate effects of microscopic surface roughness and thermal roughening have been identified and thermal attenuation in the elastic regime correlated with dynamical interactions rather than thermal roughening. Trapping and rotational coupling are discussed. Comparison of the data with scattering from epitaxial (111) silver indicates that the epitaxial surfaces are significantly more disordered than the single crystal surfaces.     

Island formation during CO/H coadsorption on Pt{111} studied by IR reflection-absorption spectroscopy

The reversible formation of pure CO islands during the coadsorption of CO and H on Pt{111} has been followed by monitoring the internal stretching vibration as well as the metal-carbon stretch of the CO molecule using infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy. Island formation occurs in the temperature range 100 < T < 180 K and for average CO coverages θ_co < 0.25. This can be inferred from the appearance of bridge-bonded CO, not normally present on Pt{111} in this coverage range, and from the frequency and lineshape behaviour of the on-top absorption band. Depending on temperature and average CO coverage islands with local coverages up to θ'_CO = 0.5 occur but they always coexist with regions of lower local coverage and/or size. There is only a very weak direct interaction between the two species on the surface.     

The adsorption of CO,O2, and H2 on Pt: I. Thermal desorption spectroscopy studies

Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) has been used to study the chemisorption of CO, O₂, and h₂ on Pt. It has been found that TDS is quite sensitive to local surface structure. Three single crystal and two polycrystalline Pt surfaces were studied. One single crystal was cut to expose the smooth, hexagonally close-packed plane of the fee Pt crystal (the (111) surface). The other two single crystals were cut to expose stepped surfaces consisting of smooth, hexagonally close-packed terraces six atoms wide separated by one atom high steps (the 6(111) × (100) and 6(111) × (111) surfaces). Only one predominant desorption state was observed for CO and H adsorbed on the smooth (111) single crystal surface, while two predominant desorption states were observed for these gases adsorbed on the stepped single crystal surfaces. The low temperature desorption states on the stepped surfaces are attributed to desorption from the terraces, while the high temperature desorption states are attributed to desorption from the steps. TDS of CO from the polycrystalline foils exhibited some desorption states which were similar to those observed on the stepped single crystal surfaces, indicating the presence of adsorption sites on the polycrystalline foils that were similar to the terrace and step sites on the stepped single crystals. In general, these results suggest a high density of defect sites on the polycrystalline foils which can not be attributed simply to adsorption at grain boundaries. Oxygen was found to adsorb well on the stepped single crystals and on the polycrystalline foils, but not on the smooth (111) single crystal, under the conditions of these experiments. This is attributed to a higher sticking probability for dissociative O₂ adsorption at steps or defects than on terraces.     

Hydrogen-induced low temperature CO displacement from the Pt(111) surface

A new low temperature displacement mechanism for CO on the Pt(111) surface has been observed in the presence of high pressures of hydrogen (0.001 to 0.1 Torr H₂). Temperature-programmed fluorescence yield near-edge spectroscopy (TP FYNES) was used to continuously monitor the CO coverage as a function of temperature both with and without hydrogen. For hydrogen pressures above 0.01 Torr, removal of CO begins at 130 K (E_d = 10.6 kcal/mol) instead of near the desorption temperature of 400 K (E_d = 26 kcal/mol). The large decrease in CO desorption energy appears to be caused by substantial repulsive interactions in the compressed monolayer induced by coadsorbed hydrogen. The new low temperature CO desorption channel appears to be caused by displacement of the compressed CO adlayer by coadsorbed hydrogen. In addition, the desorption activation energy for the main desorption channel of CO near 400 K is lowered by ~ 1 kcal/mol for hydrogen pressures in the 0.001 to 0.1 Torr range. These new results clearly emphasize the importance of in-situ methods capable of performing kinetic experiments at high pressures on well characterized adsorbed monolayers on single crystal surfaces. High coverages of coadsorbed hydrogen resulting from substantial overpressures may substantially modify desorption activation energies and thus coverages and kinetic pathways available even for strongly chemisorbed species. These phenomena may play an important role in surface reactions which occur at high pressure.     

Methanol decomposition on platinum (111)

The interaction of methanol with clean and oxygen-covered Pt(111) surfaces has been examined with high resolution electron loss spectroscopy (EELS) and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). On the clean Pt(111) surface, methanol dehydrogenated above 140 K to form adsorbed carbon monoxide and hydrogen. On a Pt(111)-p(2 × 2)O surface, methanol formed a methoxy species (CH₃O) and adsorbed water. The methoxy species was unstable above 170 K and decomposed to form adsorbed CO and hydrogen. Above room temperature, hydrogen and carbon monoxide desorbed near 360 and 470 K, respectively. The instability of methanol and methoxy groups on the Pt surface is in agreement with the dehydrogenation reaction observed on W, Ru, Pd and Ni surfaces at low pressures. This is in contrast with the higher stability of methoxy groups on silver and copper surfaces, where decomposition to formaldehyde and hydrogen occurs. The hypothesis is proposed that metals with low heats of adsorption of CO and H₂ (Ag, Cu) may selectively form formaldehyde via the methoxy intermediate, whereas other metals with high CO and H₂ chemisorption heats rapidly dehydrogenate methoxy species below room temperature.     

Improved resolution in HREELS using maximum-entropy deconvolution: CO on PtxNi1−x(111)

High-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) has been used to study stretch vibrations of CO chemisorbed at low coverage on Pt_xNi_1−x(111). Bayesian probability theory along with the entropic prior (Maxent) has been employed to deconvolve the apparatus function and to improve the apparent energy resolution. Maxent has proven very successful in a wide range of inversion problems. Here the resolution enhancement enables the positions of CO on the PtNi surface to be identified. It appears that CO is predominantly on top of Ni with the Ni atoms coordinated threefold laterally and with Ni in linear chains or on top of Pt. Furthermore, the ratio of the Pt to the Ni peak is used to study the dependence of the Pt concentration in the first layer on the annealing temperature.     

Direct-inelastic and trapping-desorption scattering of N2 and CH4 from Pt(111)

Angle and velocity distributions for supersonic chopped beams of N₂ and CH₄ scattered from clean close-packed Pt(111) surfaces are reported. For specular direct-inelastic scattering N₂ and CH₄ velocity distributions can be characterized by empirical relationships used for Ar scattering. For instance, for specular scattering the following relation is found for Ar, N₂ and CH₄: 〈KE_f〉 = A(KE_i) + B(2kT_s), where 〈KE_f〉 is the average final kinetic energy, KE_i is the incident kinetic energy and T_s is the surface temperature. The beam and surface temperature independent coefficients A and B are, respectively: Ar 0.87, 0.17; N₂ 0.79, 0.19 and CH₄ 0.84, 0.25. Unlike Ar, N₂ desorbs from Pt with a Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution near the surface temperature. Qualitatively the trapping probabilities for these molecules on Pt(111) are ordered: Xe > N₂ > CH₄> Ar.     

Temperature programmed desorption study of acetylene on a clean,H-covered,and O-covered Pt(111) surface

The reactions of acetylene on a clean, a H-covered and an O-covered Pt(111) surface were studied by temperature programmed desorption for various coverages of acetylene, and acetylene to H or O ratios. The desorption products were quantitatively determined. On a clean surface, acetylene decomposes to hydrogen and surface carbon. A small amount of self-hydrogenation to ethylene also occurs during decomposition. On a H-covered surface, hydrogenation to CH₄, C₂H₆, and ethylene, and decomposition to hydrogen and surface carbon occur simultaneously. The reactions on these two surfaces can be explained by the presence of two sites. One site is a bare surface Pt atom on which decomposition is the primary reaction pathway. The other site is a Pt atom with adsorbed H on which hydrogenation is the primary reaction pathway. On the O-covered surface, the decomposition reaction takes place together with an oxidation reaction which yields CO, CO₂, and water. The oxidation reaction probably proceeds via an intermediate that has a stoichiometry of CH. Results on the O-covered surface are consistent with the model that oxygen absorbs in islands, and the oxidation reaction takes place at the perimeter of the islands. These results are compared with those of ethylene reaction on the same Pt surfaces.     

The interaction of CO and O2 with the (111) surface of Pt3Ti

The electronic properties of clean and partly oxidized Pt₃Ti(111) surfaces have been studied utilizing carbon monoxide both as a probe and as a reducing agent. Vibrational frequencies and desorption profiles of chemisorbed CO as well as ion scattering and angular resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) suggest that the first atomic layer of annealed Pt₃Ti(111) is quasi-pure platinum. Scarcely any (θ ≈ 0.01) dissociation of CO was observed. Minor shifts of vibrational frequencies and desorption temperatures compared to Pt(111) and a p(2 × 2) “reconstruction” of the clean surface reveal some influence of the bulk. Auger spectroscopy, XPS, and ion scattering all show an increased titanium signal as a result of oxidation. Surface bound atomic oxygen gives a vibrational band around 650 cm⁻¹ which coincides with infrared absorption spectra of TiO₂. Flashing with CO shifts the band to 500 cm⁻¹. Correlated with this shift we observe (i) CO₂ desorption at a temperature well above that observed for Pt(111)/O, (ii) an altered Ti XPS signal, and (iii) a reduced oxygen concentration. Subsequently adsorbed CO molecules vibrate at the same frequencies as on the bare surface, give the same c(4 × 2) LEED pattern, and desorb at the same temperatures but with reduced intensity, in all proving that the surface oxide only acts as a site-blocker with respect to the metal surface. Our current understanding of these observations is that oxygen creates “islands of TiO₂”, segregated to the surface but with no electronic influence on remaining areas of the platinum enriched metal surface. The hexacoordinated Ti⁴⁺ ions on the surface of these islands are reduced by CO to pentacoordinated Ti³⁺ species. The vibrational shift, 650 to 500 cm⁻¹, can be understood by the dipole active bands of a triatomic O−Ti⁴⁺ −O vibrator compared to a diatomic Ti³⁺−O vibrator.     

Vibrational spectra of ammonia chemisorbed on platinum (111): II. The electron scattering mechanism

We have measured the angle and energy dependence of the inelastic cross sections for NH₃ chemisorbed on Pt(111). The relative contributions of dipole and nondipole processes in the on-specular intensities were determined. The angular dependence (off-specular scattering) was found to be more useful than the impact energy dependence for discrimination between the two scattering mechanisms. For both molecular states of NH₃/Pt(111), strong impact scattering contributions were found in the NH stretching mode intensities. One particular mode, the degenerate stretch [ν_d(NH)] was selectively excited by impact scattering. The energy dependence showed an enhancement of all of the inelastic intensities at low impact energies (1 eV). This enhancement was found to be a result of a surface reflectivity increase, coupled with an increase in the inelastic cross section. The latter increase is not predicted by dipole theory. Determination of the molecular orientation was not possible, due to the complex contributions of dipole and impact scattering.     

Surface characterization of supported Pt,Rh, and alloy particles by CO chemisorption

Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of CO is used to determine surface areas, binding states, and changes upon oxidation for 10–1000 Å particles of Pt, Rh, and Pt-Rh alloy on amorphous SiO₂. A low area sample configuration is used to obtain rapid and uniform heating and cooling in an ultra-high vacuum system. It is shown that both metals exhibit a higher CO binding state for small particles, but, as particle size increases, this state disappears and is replaced by a more weakly bound state. These states are suggested to be associated with (111) and higher surface free energy planes on these surfaces, heating Rh above 700 K in O₂ at 10^?6 Torr produces an oxide on which the CO saturation coverage is at least a factor of 10 lower than on the reduced surface. For Pt, oxidation produces only a small decrease in CO coverage, although the binding energy of CO increases on the oxygen treated surface. The difference in desorption temperatures for CO on Pt and Rh is consistent with previous experiments which show that an oxidation-reduction cycle produces a surface layer which is enriched in Rh and that the oxidized alloy contains no Pt atoms.     

Vibrational EELS,XPS and UPS study of CO chemisorbed on Pt10Ni90(111): Evidence for the existence of different sites

CO adsorption on the (111) face of a Pt₁₀Ni₉₀ alloy single crystal has been investigated at room temperature by vibrational electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and UPS). Two well separated CO stretching modes develop at 2070 and 1820 ± 10 cm^?1, with their intensities reaching 64 and 36% respectively of the total intensity at saturation coverage. They are attributed to CO adspecies in terminal and bridge bonded configuration respectively. The UPS spectra of 4σ, 5σ and 1π molecular orbitais of adsorbed CO show complex features which may be resolved into two components having the main characteristics of CO adsorbed on pure Pt(111) and Ni(111) respectively. Such behaviour is also observed by XPS on C 1s on O 1s peaks. Their respective contributions, in both XPS and UPS spectra are about 64 and 36% of the whole spectrum. Finally compared to Ni(111) — on which CO adsorbs mainly in bridge configuration — the alloying with 10% Pt has generated the appearance of a large number of new sites for CO chemisorption associated with the presence of Pt atoms at the surface. The large amount of terminal CO adspecies is interpreted in terms of considerable surface enrichment of the alloy in platinum.     

The room temperature phase of Propene on Rh(111): A caveat on thermal processing for the production of adsorbed phases at definite temperatures

Hydrocarbon phases from the thermal processing of low temperature adsorption of propene on Rh(111) and those from direct adsorption at particular temperatures were characterized by HREELS and were found to show differences. The phase from direct adsorption at room temperature contains C_xH species and ethylidyne which shows a better bond breaking ability than the room temperature phase produced by thermal processing which contains ethylidyne, propylidyne and di-σ adsorbed propene. The use of the phase from direct adsorption at room temperature, especially the low coverage phase, in comparison with similarly prepared phases on Ru(001), Ir(111), Ni(111), Pd(111) and Pt(111) shows a correlation on bond breaking ability that agrees with Sinfelt's correlation of the hydrogenolysis activity of the group 7–10 metals. This suggests that the room temperature phase of an alkene on a surface can be used to predict the hydrogenolysis activity of that surface.     

The influence of potassium and the role of coadsorbed oxygen on the chemisorptive properties of Pt(100)

The adsorption of K on Pt(100) has been followed by thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES); carbon monoxide was used as a probe for the modification of the chemical properties of K promoted surfaces. The role of subsequent adsorption of oxygen on the K modified surfaces has also been measured. For low potassium coverage (θ_K = 0 to 0.35), the mass-28 TDS peak temperature of adsorbed CO increases continuously with the K coverage, indicating an increase of the adsorption energy of CO which has been explained by a substantial charge donation from K into the $\text{2π}{}^1$ orbitals of CO via long range interactions through the platinum substrate. No oxygen uptake was detected after oxygen exposure at room temperature. For high potassium content (θ_K = 0.45 to 1), the mass-28 TDS peak temperature of coadsorbed CO is very narrow and remains constant at 680 K. We propose the formation of a COKPt surface complex which decomposes at 680 K, since K desorption is detected concomitantly to CO. On such K covered surfaces, the oxygen uptake is promoted, and it cancels the modifications of the surface properties induced by potassium.     

The role of HH interactions in the formation of ordered structures on Ni and Pd single crystals

The interaction between H adatoms on a surface is calculated within the embedded cluster model of chemisorption. The model is first applied to the case of two H atoms on a free electron surface. The interaction energy is found to be an oscillatory function of the H-H separation R_ab. Application of the free electron model to the problem of chemisorption on transition metal surfaces leads to unphysical results with the prediction of formation of ordered H overlayers which are not observed in LEED experiments. We next include the l = 2 TM muffin tins. Results for H adsorption on the low index faces of Ni and Pd substrates are presented. Graphitic structures are predicted for the (111) faces of both Ni and Pd with the H atoms occupying both types of three-fold hollow sites on the surface. This agrees with the results of LEED experiments for H/Ni(111). Comparison with experiment is not possible in the case of H/Pd(111) owing to the lack of low temperature studies for that system. Zig-zag chains with the H atoms adsorbed in sites of three-fold coordination on alternate sides of the TM(110) rows are predicted for both Ni and Pd. This is in agreement with the results of He diffraction experiments for H/Ni(110). No structure determination has been done for H/Pd(110). Adsorption in the four-fold centre sites for H on the (100) faces of Ni and Pd is found to be unfavourable. The H atoms are expected to adsorb in sites of three-fold symmetry below the (100) surface for H on Pd with formation of a c(2 × 2) structure in agreement with the LEED observations. For H/Ni(100) the H atoms are believed to adsorb above the surface, away from the centre site and to bond to two surface Ni atoms. No short-range ordered structures are predicted in this case.     

Nitric oxide reduction by CO ON Rh(111): Temperature programmed reaction

The reaction of NO with CO on Rh(111) has been studied with temperature programmed reaction (TPR). Comparisons are made with the reaction of O₂ with CO and the reaction of NO with H₂. The rate-determining step for both CO oxidation reactions is CO(a) + O(a) → CO₂(g). Repulsive interactions between adsorbed CO and adsorbed nitrogen atoms lead to desorption of CO in a peak at 415 K which is in the temperature range where the reaction between CO(a) and O(a) produces CO₂(g). Thus the extent of reaction of CO(a) with NO(a) is less than that between CO(a) and O(a) due to the lower coverage of CO caused by adsorbed N atoms and NO. A similar repulsive interaction between NO(a) and H(a) suppresses the NO + H₂ reaction. CO + NO reaction behavior on Rh(111) is compared to that observed on Pt(111).     

The effect of sulfur on co adsorption/desorption on Pt(S)-[9(111) × (100)]

CO adsorption/desorption on clean and sulfur covered Pt(S)-[9(111) × (100)] surfaces was studied using AES, TPD, and modulated beam experiments. CO desorption occurred from two states on the clean surface — a low temperature state associated with the (111) terraces and a high temperature state associated with the steps/defects. Thermal desorption results indicated that above small CO coverages conversion from the low temperature state into the high temperature state was activated and that back conversion was slow. Sulfur preferentially adsorbed at step/defect sites and decreased the population of the high temperature desorption state. Modulated beam experiments were performed in order to determine CO adsorption/desorption parameters as a function of sulfur coverage on the Pt crystal. The sticking coefficient and binding energy of CO decreased as the sulfur concentration increased. Sulfur adsorption at step/defect sites decreased the CO sticking coefficient only slightly but increased the effective rate constant for CO desorption significantly. Sulfur adsorption on the terraces affected CO adosrption more than sulfur at step sites. On the clean surface the effective rate constant for CO desorption was

$\text{1 × 10}{}^{15}\text{s}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{exp (}\text{?36.2 kcal/mole}\text{RT}\text{)}$

Desorption occurred from both terrace and step/defect sites, but the kinetics were characteristic of the step/defect sites. For the surface on which step/defect sites were blocked by sulfur the effective desorption rate constant was

$\text{k}{}_{\mathrm{eff}}\text{= 1 × 10}{}^{13}\text{s}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{exp (?}\text{27.5 kcal/mole}\text{RT}\text{)}$

indicating an appreciable decrease in CO binding on the terraces, though sulfur-CO repulsive interactions had probably made k_eff larger than the true rate constant for desorption from clean (111) planes. The results showed clearly a compensation effect in activation energy and preexponential factor.     

Co chemisorption on PtCu surfaces III. CO on PtCu(111)

Selected thermal desorption and valence band photoemission data on the chemisorption of CO on PtCu(111) surfaces are presented. The main objective is to make a comparison with CO chemisorption on an annealed (1 × 3) reconstructed Pt_0.98Cu_0.02(110) surface. The (111) alloy surfaces are unreconstructed (1 × 1) surfaces, with average near-surface Cu concentrations ranging from ? 7.5% to ? 20% as indicated by the Cu 920 eV Auger signal. It is observed that the effect of alloying Pt(111) with Cu is to progressively lower the desorption peak temperature and hence the free energy of CO desorption from Pt sites. A second observation is that the energy distribution of the Cu 3d-derived states is little affected by CO adsorption on Cu sites at 155 K. Both these results offer a contrast to the results for CO/Pt_0.98Cu_0.02(110) reported earlier.     

The temperature dependence of the interaction of NO + CO on Pt{1 0 0}

Infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy together with mass spectrometry has been used to investigate the interaction of NO and CO on Pt{1 0 0}, initially prepared in the reconstructed ‘hex’ phase, under ambient pressures of these gases, in the temperature range 300-500 K. The results allow the local and total coverages of adsorbed CO and NO to be related to the rate of reaction to produce gas phase CO₂, and provide insight into the species present on the surface during the so-called low temperature oscillatory reaction regime of this process. At temperatures below that at which NO dissociation occurs (approximately 390-400 K) adsorption is controlled by the non-reactive displacement of NO by CO and results in a CO-poisoned surface. Above 400 K when significant CO₂ production occurs, the NO coverage increases to produce a surface with NO and CO fully intermixed; the increase in NO coverage is attributed to the higher rate of NO arrival from the gas phase (with a partial pressure ratio of P_NO:P_CO>1) at free surface sites created by NO dissociation and subsequent reaction with CO. The competition between these two processes of non-reactive NO displacement by CO and reactive displacement of CO by NO is proposed to determine the parameter space of the low temperature oscillatory regime. Rapid equilibration between bridged and atop CO species leads to them appearing to exhibit identical reaction behaviour. Particularly at the lowest reaction temperatures (around 400 K), islands of pure CO may coexist on the surface but not participate in the reaction. Under conditions corresponding to the high temperature oscillatory regime, small quantities of absorbed CO, but no NO, are seen on the surface.