ABSTRACT
Adsorption, desorption and fragmentation of borazine on Pt(110) are studied by temperature-programmed desorption, ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy, workfunction measurements and density functional theory. Borazine adsorbs in part dissociatively, forming an upright (B3N3H5Ë)ads adsorption complex. Radicals with a N-Pt bond are weakly bound and desorb recombinatively following second-order kinetics. Radicals with a B-Pt bond are similar in binding strength to the molecularly adsorbed species, which binds through dispersive forces to the (111) facets of the (1 × 2) reconstructed Pt(110). Both do not desorb but are dehydrogenated beyond T = 150 K. As T approaches 600 K the B-N ring progressively breaks down into its atomic constituents. The borazine ice multilayer is capable of trapping significant amounts of hydrogen. Previous studies of borazine adsorption on other transition metal surfaces yield a very similar pattern. Reported multiple molecular desorption peaks are artefacts. Implications for the nucleation and growth of h-BN monolayers at high temperatures are discussed.
ABSTRACT
A "job-sharing" hydrogen storage mechanism is proposed and experimentally investigated in Ru/Li2O nanocomposites in which H(+) is accommodated on the Li2O side, while H(-) or e(-) is stored on the side of Ru. Thermal desorption-mass spectroscopy results show that after loading with D2, Ru/Li2O exhibits an extra desorption peak, which is in contrast to Ru nanoparticles or ball-milled Li2O alone, indicating a synergistic hydrogen storage effect due to the presence of both phases. By varying the ratio of the two phases, it is shown that the effect increases monotonically with the area of the heterojunctions, indicating interface related hydrogen storage. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance results show that a weak LiO···D bond is formed after loading in Ru/Li2O nanocomposites with D2. The storage-pressure curve seems to favor H(+)/H(-) over H(+)/e(-) mechanism.
ABSTRACT
Phase transitions in a quasi-one-dimensional surface system on a metal substrate are investigated as a function of temperature. Upon cooling the system shows a loss of long-range order, fluctuations, and a transition into an inhomogeneous ground state due to competition of local adsorbate-adsorbate interactions with an incommensurate charge density wave. This agrees with a general phase diagram for correlated systems and high-temperature superconductors. The model surface system allows direct imaging of the fluctuations and the glassy inhomogeneous ground state by scanning tunneling microscopy.
