Adsorption kinetics and intermolecular interactions of CO adsorbed on Cu(100) by transient laser reflection-absorption spectroscopy

IR and visible transient laser spectroscopic techniques have been developed to probe adsorption/desorption kinetics and intermolecular interactions of the CO/Cu(100) system. Vibrational spectroscopy, in general, can provide information about the nature of species adsorbed on surfaces e.g. chemical identity, site, orientation and concentration. In the presence of a few percent of CO adsorbed at step/defect sites, the spectra of the CO adsorbed on the terrace sites are greatly perturbed through dynamic-dipole coupling. This perturbation depends strongly on the intermolecular distance and the short-range order of the adsorbates. An analysis of this dynamic-dipole coupling reveals that the local arrangement of adsorbates is dominant by repulsive nearest-neighbor interactions. Successful modeling of the observed lineshapes allows the populations at each site to be determined at all coverages. The authors have also observed non-resonant adsorbate induced changes in both the IR and visible reflectance for a number of different adsorbates. This provides a simple and sensitive optical means of studying adsorption and desorption kinetics.