PHOTON-INDUCED REACTION AT THE CO2 K/CU(110) INTERFACE/

The coadsorption of CO2 and K on Cu(110) has been studied for K covera ges in the range 0-2 monolayers. Both physisorbed and reacted states o f CO2 are observed in the thermally programmed desorption spectra when the adsorption takes place at 117 K. Photon irradiation over a broad energy range, 2-1486 eV, gives rise to a photochemical process where p hysisorbed CO2 is transformed to chemisorbed CO2. The mechanism of the process is generation of secondary electrons that are captured by wea kly bounded CO2 molecules. Afterwards the CO2 anions decay by dissocia tion. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.