The surface chemistry of H2O on clean and oxygen-covered Cu(110)

Adsorption of water at 100 K. on clean and oxygen-covered Cu(110) has been studied using UPS, TDS, Δφ and LEED measurements. The results indicate that two-dimensional hydrogenbonded islands are formed on the clean surface. The long-range order in these islands is in registry with the substrate lattice and gives rise to a c(2×2) LEED pattern. Upon the formation of multilayer ice, the ordering disappears. The presence of oxygen on the surface disrupts the hydrogen bonding, and composite oxygen-water layers are formed. A model of the arrangement of oxygen atoms and water molecules is presented, based upon the LEED observations for these layers and an estimate of the relative oxygen and water coverages. The intensity variation of a thermal desorption peak at 290 K, attributed to adsorbed OH species, with oxygen coverage is in accordance with this model. For low oxygen coverages, the TDS and Δφ results indicate that small oxygen-water clusters with an enhanced ratio of water molecules per adsorbed oxygen atom are present.