The sticking of O2 on a Pt(111) surface

This paper reports detailed molecular beam measurements of the sticking coefficient at zero coverage for O2 on a Pt(111) surface as a function of initial energy (Ei), angle of incidence (θi), and surface temperature (Ts). Under most conditions the sticking coefficient measures the probability for dissociative chemisorption. These results demonstrate that both precursor mediated and quasi-direct dissociation can be observed, depending upon the initial conditions. The quasi-direct process is revealed by a step increase in the sticking with Ei. This feature scales intermediately between Ei and the normal component En, and is weakly dependent on Ts. The precursor mediated sticking is well described by standard precursor kinetic models. At low Ei and Ts, sticking measures trapping into a molecularly adsorbed state. This trapping decreases more rapidly with Ei than anticipated from simple models and scales intermediately between Ei and En. The sticking results are discussed in terms of likely dynamic processes occurring on a potential energy surface which contains an intermediate molecularly adsorbed species formed by charge transfer from the metal to the O2.