In this project in the Physical Chemistry program of the Chemistry Division Professor Kent M. Ervin of the Chemistry Department of the University of Nevada at Reno will undertake a series of investigations to measure the binding energies of adsorbates on transition metal clusters. These will be determined as function of cluster size, element, charge state, and adsorbate identity. The experimental methods use guided ion beam reaction and laser photodesorption dynamics techniques. Surface science studies have provided adsorption energies for many adsorbates at various sites on single crystal metal surfaces. For metal cluster systems, however, such data are extremely limited, especially for strongly bound adsorbates and reaction intermediates. Such data are, however, of extreme importance when cluster reactions are to be used for selective chemistry and for the interpretation of reaction mechanisms taking place at surfaces. This research project is designed to provide the data necessary for the characterization of the adsorption sites on the clusters and to interpret kinetic data on cluster reactions in terms of mechanisms and product formation.
