Seminars Archive

The Direct Measurement of Chemisorption Energies

Abstract
A key quantity in surface chemical reactions is the chemisorption energy. Single Crystal Adsorption Calorimetry (SCAC) is a simple and straightforward technique, allowing the direct and precise measurement of chemisorption energies for irreversible adsorption on single crystal metal surfaces in an unprecedented manner. In addition to the overall sensitivity of the experiment for coverage dependent heats of adsorption and sticking probabilities, one of its strengths is the capability to distinguish coverage dependent structure formation, provided distinct phases exist. Corresponding examples such as O/Rh{100} and CO/Pt{211} will be given. Furthermore, results from hydrocarbon adsorption allow in many cases the extraction of metal-carbon bond energies, and based on the amount of data taken so far, general trends become visible.