Adsorption energies, inter-adsorbate interactions, and the two binding sites within monolayer benzene on Ag(111).

The adsorption of monolayer and multilayer benzene on the Ag(111) surface was characterized using temperature programmed desorption (TPD). TPD spectra revealed two broad peaks at approximately 205 and approximately 150 K at submonolayer coverage and a sharper, multilayer peak at 140 K. Analysis of the coverage-dependent shape and shift of the two submonolayer peaks has resulted in their assignment to desorption from two different binding geometries on threefold-hollow sites with symmetries C(3v)(sigma d) and C(3v)(sigma v). The TPD peak analysis incorporated inter-adsorbate repulsive interaction that resulted from the local dipole moment at the adsorption site induced by the adsorbate-surface charge transfer bonding. The analysis has yielded desorption energies of 54.9 +/- 0.8 and 50.4 +/- 0.4 kJ/mol for the C(3v)(sigma d) and C(3v)(sigma v) configurations, respectively. The interface dipole and polarizability of the benzene-silver complex have been determined to be 5.4 +/- 1.8 D and 14 +/- 10 A3, respectively. Repulsive interactions in the monolayer were found to lower the desorption energy from the zero-coverage value by 14.8 kJ/mol. Leading edge analysis of the multilayer peak yielded a desorption energy of 40.9 +/- 0.7 kJ/mol.