Surface composition of PdAu and PdAg catalysts by auger electron spectroscopy

Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) has been employed to examine the metal surface composition of PdAu and PdAg alloys as microspheres and as alumina-supported crystallites. For the PdAu system the observed PdAu ratios at the surface correspond closely to those of the bulk both for the microspheres and crystallites. However in the case of supported PdAg, the surface exhibits silver-enrichment relative to the bulk. By means of the regular solution monolayer model the results are interpreted theoretically and the binding energies between the dissimilar metal atoms are computed.