Products of low energy electron impact induced excited state reactions of carbon monoxide and of nitric oxide on a gold surface

• Main Author: St. Denis, Michael Joseph
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1989
• Subjects: Low energy electron diffraction; Excited state chemistry; Carbon monoxide; Nitric oxide; Physical Sciences and Mathematics
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2176; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3175&context=uop_etds

The threshold potentials were determined for the excitation energy necessary for low energy electrons to induce chemical reactions of carbon monoxide, and of nitric oxide adsorbed on a gold surface. The reactions were studied as a function of temperature (100 °C to 200 °C) and pressure (1.83 x 10-5 to 6.40 x 10-4 torr). The electron source was a thorium oxide coated iridium filament which was heated by a current between 1A and 3A to keep thermal distribution of the electrons to less than 0.4 ev. The reaction surface was a polycrystalline evaporated film prepared by subliming gold onto a stainless steel mesh support. Mass analysis was done by quadrupole mass spectrometry in a flow system. The general results of the research is that a technique has been developed to study the products of reactions of excited state atoms or molecules on metal surfaces. The electron-impact excitation method is an alternative to photochemical and other methods.