The water dissociation reaction on clean and oxidized iron (110)

Abstract

The interaction of H₂O with the clean Fe(110) surface, Fe(110) surfaces with absorbed oxygen, and Fe(110) surfaces after bulk oxygen penetration were investigated using UPS. At 225 K, surface absorbed hydroxyl groups are present on all surfaces studied. On initially clean Fe(110) and surfaces with up to half monolayer of absorbed oxygen, heating the hydroxyl layer produced at 225 to 360 K causes hydrogen and water desorption and additional oxygen deposition relative to the starting surface. Beyond one‐half monolayer of initial oxygen coverage, dehydroxylation proceeded exclusively via water desorption with the quantitative restoration of the initial surface composition. These results demonstrate that the (110) surface of iron is passive toward oxidation by water alone below 360 K, after the first monolayer.