INTERACTION OF HYDROGEN WITH THE AG(110) SURFACE

The interaction of atomic and molecular hydrogen with the (110) surface of silver has been studied using electron-energy-loss spectroscopy, thermal desorption spectroscopy, low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), and work-function measurements. No evidence for associative or dissociative chemisorption of H2 is observed at the substrate temperatures investigated (greater-than-or-equal-to 90 K). However, at 100 K, atomic hydrogen bonds in the [110BAR] troughs of the surface in tilted-trigonal sites. As a function of concentration, a sequence of lattice-gas superstructures is observed with LEED including (1 X 4), (1 X 3), (2 X 6), and (2 X 2) patterns. At saturation coverage, the work function increases by 0.22 eV. However, this phase is metastable; upon annealing, hydrogen desorption is accompanied by an irreversible transition to a new bonding geometry in which LEED shows a dim (1 X 2) superstructure. The desorption of molecular hydrogen is characterized by two overlapping peaks centered at approximately 155 K [6.9 kJ/mol] and approximately 180 K [9.9 kJ/mol] which obey first- and second-order kinetics, respectively. Various structural models and hydrogen site assignments are discussed in comparison with data for similar systems.