J. Xie et al., ATOMIC HYDROGEN-INDUCED DECOMPOSITION OF CHEMISORBED FORMATE AT 100-KON THE RU(001) SURFACE, The Journal of chemical physics, 101(10), 1994, pp. 9195-9197
Atomic hydrogen-induced C-O bond cleavage in chemisorbed formate on th
e Ru(001) surface has been investigated with high-resolution electron
energy loss spectroscopy. The chemisorbed formate reacts at 100 K with
gas-phase atomic hydrogen to produce chemisorbed formyls (eta(1)-HCO
and eta(2)-HCO) and hydroxyls, and the hydroxyls react further with th
e impinging hydrogen to produce adsorbed water. The observation of the
se ''direct'' surface reactions provides strong support for a ''couple
d'' reaction mechanism, postulated previously, in which hydrogen from
C-H bond cleavage in one formate (which produces CO2) reacts with an a
djacent formate to form HCO and OH, resulting in a CO to CO2 ratio of
unity in the overall thermal decomposition reaction.