Anomalous effects such as the enhanced sticking probability of CO and
O-2 and the partial CO dissociation were measured on small Pd particle
s deposited on gamma-alumina. Recently, a dependence of the sticking c
oefficient on the substrate has also been reported on Pd/(0001) alpha-
alumina but no dissociation has been observed in this case. We present
a detail study of CO adsorption/desorption and catalytic reaction pro
perties for a series of alumina substrates. Particularly, we used alph
a-alumina of surface orientations (0001) and (<1(1)over bar 02>). Befo
re the Pd deposition, the substrates were exposed to annealing at diff
erent temperatures in vacuum and in the air. The adsorption and reacti
on parameters of Pd particles change with crystallographical structure
and stoichiometry of the substrate surface, essentially due to the ef
fect of reactants diffusion over the substrate.