Electron impact desorption of hydrogen on tungsten: II. Hydrogen in mixed adsorption layers

The electron impact desorption (EID) of H⁺ ions and of H₂ molecules from hydrogen coadsorbed with carbon monoxide or oxygen on tungsten has been investigated mass spectrometrically. It is shown that the high EID cross sections for hydrogen on tungsten reported in some earlier investigations must have been due to coadsorbed states. These states have been investigated in some detail with respect to their general adsorptive (relative coverages, sticking coefficients, isosteric heats, and desorption rates) and their EID properties (total and ionic cross sections, threshold energies). The results stress the high specificity of EID for certain (usually weakly bound) adsorption states and its applicability for the investigation of such states even in the presence of other states with much higher populations.