Simple hydrocarbons on metals

Perhaps the next simplest molecular adsorbates for which quantitative structural information exists are the unsaturated C2 hydrocarbons, notably acetylene (ethyne, HC CH) and ethylene (ethene, H2C=CH2), adsorbed on a number of metal surfaces (especially, Cu, Ni and Pd), and also on Si(100), studied by LEED, SEXAFS, and PhD. In some systems adsorption of ethylene is accompanied by a surface reaction. In particular, on both Pt(lll) [74] and Rh(lll) [75] ethylene is converted to an ethylidyne species, H3C—C—, which bonds to these surfaces through the C atom with the —C axis essentially perpendicular to the surface, in three-fold coordinated hollow sites. In addition, ethylene adsorbed on Ni(l 11) at low temperature dehydrogenates to produce adsorbed acetylene as the surface is warmed towards room temperature this particular system actually provided the first example of the 

These structural data therefore provide independent support for the reduced —C bond order values of the adsorbed molecules indicated by vibrational spectroscopy. 

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