title: Autocatalytic water dissociation on Cu(110) at near ambient conditions.
abstract: Autocatalytic dissociation of water on the Cu(110) metal surface is demonstrated on the basis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies carried out in situ under near ambient conditions of water vapor pressure (1 Torr) and temperature (275-520 K). The autocatalytic reaction is explained as the result of the strong hydrogen-bond in the H2O-OH complex of the dissociated final state, which lowers the water dissociation barrier according to the Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi relations. A simple chemical bonding picture is presented which predicts autocatalytic water dissociation to be a general phenomenon on metal surfaces.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, P.O.B. 20450, Stanford, California 94309, USA.
authors.forename: Klas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ketteler
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bluhm
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ogasawara
authors.forename: Lars G M
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Pettersson
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salmeron
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nilsson