Acetylene chemisorption at palladium: Effect of temperature and structure of the surface

Abstract

The effect of temperature and structure of the palladium surfaces on acetylene chemisorption was studied along with the interaction of the adsorbed layers with molecular and atomic hydrogen. The work function changes were measured and combined with the volumetric measurements and analysis of the products. At temperature below 100 °C, acetylene is adsorbed almost without dissociation and forms at least two different types of thermally stable adsorption complexes. Acetylene adsorbed at 200 °C is partly decomposed, especially in the low coverage region. Besides the above mentioned effects, the template effect of adsorbed acetylene was studied in the temperature range from -80° to 25 °C. It has been shown that this effect is a typical phenomenon of the palladium-acetylene system which is not due to surface impurities.