The adsorption of oxygen on Pd1/W(110)

The behavior of oxygen on Pd₁/W(110) has been investigated from 25 to 200 K by thermal desorption, UPS, XPS, and work function measurements. At 25 K only dioxygen species are present. A weakly bound O₂layer, containing O₂/Pd = 0.31 or 4.4 × 10¹⁴ O₂ molecules/cm² is desorbed at 35 K, leaving a coverage of O₂/Pd = 0.35 or 5 × 10¹⁴ O₂ molecules/cm². Heating to 200 K results in desorption of molecular O₂ as well as conversion to O, with O/Pd = 0.3. The molecular states, except the very weakly bound one, have high dipole moments with electron transfer to O₂, and thus correspond to Superoxide and peroxide species. These have UPS spectra quite different from physisorbed O₂. At 90 K adsorption is still mostly molecular with a sticking coefficient s near unity. At 200 K, adsorption is atomic with an initial s₀ = 0.8. This must be contrasted with Cu₁/W(110) where s₀ is unity even at 300 K. The difference can be explained by the much better size match of Pd and W, than Cu and W which makes it easier for Cu to take up momentum of impinging O₂ molecules.

The behavior of oxygen on Pd₁/W(110) is very similar to that on bulk Pd(111), suggesting that for oxygen the former surface resembles bulk Pd. This is not so for CO adsorption which is much weaker on Pd₁/W(110) than on bulk Pd. The reasons for this difference are not presently understood.