A systematic review of the application of vibrational spectroscopy to the determination of the structures of NO adsorbed on single-crystal metal surfaces

Abstract

Recently derived vibrational spectroscopic data from NO ligands in metal coordination or cluster compounds, corrected to ‘neutral coligand’ status, are used to help identify the structures of related surface species from NO chemisorbed on metal single-crystal surfaces at low coverage. The derived conclusions form the basis for a systematic review of the structural information derivable from the extensive vibrational spectroscopic literature in this area, considered in relation to information from other physical methods and density-function theoretical calculations. A high degree of agreement is found for the approximate wavenumber ranges associated with surface species as follows, (cm⁻¹) ν(NO) on-top 1700–1860;. 2-fold bridged 1560–1700; 3-fold hollow 1460–1620; 4-fold hollow ca.900: ν(MN) on-top 400–510; 2-fold bridged ca.400; 3-fold hollow 300–405. Within these ranges wavenumber values increase with coverage.