Alkali-metal-affected adsorption of molecules on metal surfaces

The study of coadsorption of alkali metals and simple molecules on transition metal surfaces has been a favored topic of research ever since the pioneering work by Langmuir in 1923. The main reasons for this continued interest are both of fundamental and applied nature. There are a number of interesting physical effects, such as work function changes, charge transfer, two-dimensional ordering, bond energy and molecule orientational changes, and altered surface reactive properties, which have been investigated by a large number of different surface analytical techniques. From an applied point of view, alkali metal covered surfaces are important in the areas of electron and ion emission and heterogenous catalysis, for example.In this paper we will give a short review of the adsorption of alkali metals on well-defined transition metal surfaces. The interaction of these adsorbed alkali metals with subsequently adsorbed atomic or molecular species will be treated more extensively. The emphasis will be on recent experiments dealing with well-characterized surfaces. In particular we will consider questions of adsorption energetics and kinetics, but also review in detail the vibrational, electronic, structural and reactive properties of the coadsorbed complex. Based on a wealth of experimental data, several models of the coadsorbed alkali metal-molecule complex will be introduced and discussed.