THE EFFECT OF WATER ON THE FORMATION OF STRONGLY BOUND OXYGEN ON SILVER SURFACES

Interaction of water with an oxygenated Ag(111) surface leads to an en hancement of the surface restructuring and an activated formation of h ydroxyl groups (OH) located stably on the surface and incorporated in the subsurface region, as evidenced by means of reflection electron mi croscopy (REM) and in situ Raman spectroscopy. Dehydroxylation of OHad s at elevated temperatures releases the strongly bound oxygen species labelled O-gamma at the surface, and offers an alternative to the ener getically less favorable pathway for the direct formation of the O-gam ma species from molecular oxygen.