TPD and FT-IRAS investigation of ethylene oxide (EtO) adsorption on a Au(211) stepped surface.

Adsorption of ethylene oxide, CH(2)CH(2)O (EtO), on a Au(211) stepped surface was studied by temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and Fourier transform infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (FT-IRAS). Ethylene oxide was completely reversibly adsorbed, and desorbed molecularly during TPD following adsorption on Au(211) at 85 K. EtO TPD peaks appeared at 115 K from the multilayer film and 140 and 170 K from the monolayer. Desorption at 140 K was attributed to EtO desorption from terrace sites, and that at 170 K to EtO desorption from step sites. Desorption activation energies and corresponding adsorption energies were estimated to be 8.4 and 10.3 kcal mol(-1), respectively. The EtO ring (C(2)O) deformation band appeared in IRAS at 865 cm(-1) for EtO in multilayer films and when adsorbed in the monolayer at terrace sites. The stronger chemisorption bonding of EtO at Au step sites slightly weakens the bonding within the molecule and causes a small red-shift of this band to 850 cm(-1) for adsorption at step sites. EtO presumably binds via the oxygen atom to the surface, and observation of the EtO-ring absorption band in IRAS establishes that the molecular ring plane of EtO adsorbed at step and terrace sites is nearly upright with respect to the crystal surface plane.