TRAPPING A PRECURSOR TO CHEMISORPTION AT 32 K-NH3 ADSORPTION ON CU(110)

The adsorption of NH3 onto Cu(110) at 32 K results in the trapping of a metastable state with a distinctive bonding structure compared to ch emisorbed NH3. Heating to 55 K causes the metastable NH3 species to co nvert to the more stable chemisorbed species. The binding energy for t he metastable state is estimated to be 0.2 eV, compared to 0.77 eV for the chemisorbed state. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.