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Adsorption, desorption, and reactions of carbon monoxide, oxygen, and nitric oxide on clean polycrystalline rhodium surfaces

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6462976

The adsorption, desorption, and reactions of carbon monoxide, oxygen, and nitric oxide on clean polycrystalline rhodium surfaces were studied in an ultrahigh vacuum apparatus. Carbon monoxide adsorbed with near-unit sticking probability and a heat of adsorption of approx. 31 kcal/mole; it desorbed at about 540/sup 0/K with an activation energy equal to its heat of adsorption and a frequency factor near 3 x 10/sup 13//sec. Oxygen chemisorbed with an initial sticking probability of 0.25 and produced chemisorbed oxygen atoms on the surface. Chemisorbed oxygen reacted with gas-phase carbon monoxide to give carbon dioxide with almost unit reaction probability at 440/sup 0/K, in contrast to preadsorbed carbon monoxide which was almost inert to gas-phase oxygen at 330/sup 0/K. The carbon monoxide oxidation reaction proceeded by a Langmuir-Hinshelwood combination of coadsorbed oxygen and carbon monoxide with an activation energy of approx. 14.3 kcal/mole below 530/sup 0/K and 25 kcal/mole above. Nitric oxide chemisorbed on clean rhodium at 330/sup 0/K to produce a mixture of molecular (-NO) and dissociated (-N and -O) adspecies. Carbon monoxide reacted with NO to produce carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

OSTI ID:
6462976
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English