DECOMPOSITION OF FORMIC-ACID ON RU(1010)

The decomposition of formic acid was studied on a clean Ru(101̄0) surface adsorption temperature between 100 and 460 K by means of flash thermal desorption. The decomposition products observed were H2, CO2, H2O and CO. HCOOH itself was also desorbed, although at low exposures no formic acid was observed. The H2 and CO2 products were desorbed in identical first order peaks, with a peak temperature of 395 K. The H2O product desorbed in a second order peak at 813 K, in contrast to H2O desorption from low coverage H2O adsorption which occurs in two peaks in the region of 220 and 265 K. The CO product desorbed in a first order peak at 488 K, identical to CO from CO adsorption. The dependence of the product peaks on adsorption temperature of the Ru surface was also studied. These results suggest a model involving the formation and decomposition of a surface intermediate species. © 1979.