Adsorption of water molecules on the freshly formed surface of a nickel electrode

By analyzing the electroreflectance spectra (ES) of the freshly formed surf ace (FFS) of a nickel electrode for different durations of contact between FFS and an alkaline sulfate solution, it is established that ES characteriz e the reversible formation and disappearance of the surface charge-transfer complexes (Ni-H2O)(ads). ES show that the charge transfer from adsorbed wa ter molecules onto the metal increases with time. A comparison of ES with s imilar spectra for an iron electrode shows that water is adsorbed on nickel noticeably slower than on iron.