The adsorption and decomposition of ethylene on Ni(100)

The adsorption behavior of ethylene on Ni(100) at a variety of temperatures has been studied using temperature programmed desorption, and X-ray and UV photoemission. The adsorption of ethylene at 98 K results in molecular adsorption with a saturation C/Ni ratio of 0.76. Heating this surface to any temperature between 213 and 683 K reduces the C/Ni ratio to 0.5. Exposure to ethylene at 300 K leads to decomposition producing surface carbide, adsorbed hydrogen atoms and an adsorbed C_xH_2x species. A comparison with other work on Ni(111) indicates that ethylene adsorption processes are structure sensitive.