Chemisorption on Metals

Publisher Summary This chapter attempts to give a general picture of the current state of knowledge of chemisorption on metal surfaces. For this purpose it is not enough to list some salient facts or observations, followed by a discussion of the theory of chemisorption. To begin with, the techniques used to study chemisorption are highly specialized, and even the mere listing of results would in many instances be meaningless without discussing, at least, the principles that underlie the methods or techniques by which they are obtained. Further, it is still in a relatively primitive stage in our understanding, and there is still room for error, both in measurement and interpretation. An intelligent appraisal of current or past work and of its limitations is, therefore, impossible without some understanding of experimental methods. For this reason, much of the chapter is devoted to a description and discussion of the principal methods of investigation; since some of these cannot be understood without a discussion of the theory of chemisorption, this topic is sandwiched between some of the experimental chapters. Finally, a few representative systems or system types are discussed in some detail.