Pyridine on flat Pt(111) and stepped Pt(355)—An in situ HRXPS investigation of adsorption and thermal evolution

We investigated the adsorption and reaction of pyridine on flat Pt(111) and stepped Pt(355) surfaces via high-resolution in situ x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The surfaces were exposed to pyridine at temperatures between 112 and 300 K while simultaneously recording XP spectra. Subsequently, the crystals were annealed and the temperature dependencies of the N 1s and C 1s core levels were studied again in a continuous and quantitative way. Various surface species were found, namely, physisorbed, flat-lying and end-on pyridine, α-pyridyl species on the terraces and on the steps and several unidentified high temperature species. We were able to show an influence of the steps of Pt(355) by pre-adsorbing silver next to the step, which selectively suppresses the step adsorption.