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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/M68046/01
Title: PROBING THE POTENTIAL ENERGY SURFACE FOR ADSORPTION USING LOW TEMPERATURE INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY
Principal Investigator: Brown, Professor W
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
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Department: Chemistry
Organisation: UCL
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 September 1999 Ends: 31 August 2002 Value (£): 206,718
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Instrumentation Eng. & Dev. Surfaces & Interfaces
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Chemicals No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
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Summary on Grant Application Form
A fundamental understanding of the interaction of molecules with metal surfaces is essential if we are to understand processes such as corrosion and heterogeneous catalysis. Reflection adsorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) is an ideal technique for studying adsorption as it possesses the unique ability to identify both the nature of an adsorbate and also its adsorption site. Applying RAIRS at low temperatures allows the observation of many new phenomena including the study of dynamical processes such as vibrational energy transfer. The most exciting application of low temperature RAIRS is in the observation of diffusion processes and metastable surface species. Adsorption at very low temperature leads to the formation of metastable adsorbate species which are trapped in local potential energy minima on the surface due to the lack of thermal diffusion. The identification of these species allows information about the potential energy surface for adsorption to be elucidated. By coupling these experiments to theoretical studies, detailed information about the interaction of a molecules with the surface to be obtained. I will apply this technique to perform the first, unique, low temperature studies of adsorption on stepped surfaces.
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