학술논문

The low-energy thermal excitation spectrum of nitrogen molecules adsorbed on Ni(110): Implications for molecular adsorption sites
Document Type
Original Paper
Source
Applied Physics A: Materials Science and Processing. February 1996 62(2):95-101
Subject
34.50
79.60
Language
English
ISSN
0947-8396
1432-0630
Abstract
The adsorption of N2 molecules on Ni(110) has been investigated by high-resolution He-atom energy-loss spectroscopy. Two external vibrations in the subthermal (< 30 meV) energy regime at 5.75 and 4.5 meV have been observed and are shown to imply the existence of two different adsorption sites, which are assigned to an on-top and a bridge-site. This finding is at variance with the interpretation of data from electron energy loss spectroscopy and InfraRed (IR) spectroscopy, where only one mode of the internal stretch vibration v1 at frequencies is observed for the chemisorbed nitrogen molecules. A reanalysis of previously published high-resolution IR data reveals that the presence of the second unexpected adsorbate species correlates with a feature in the IR spectra, which previously has been assigned to N2 molecules adsorbed at defect sites. These findings reveal that in this case the external vibrations are significantly more sensitive to different adsorption sites than the internal vibration, the latter exhibiting a difference between on-top and bridge sites of less than 6 cm−1.