A high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy study of the Fermi resonance of CO2 adsorbed on a Ag(110)/CO3 layer

Abstract

The adsorption of CO2 on a Ag(110) surface precovered with a saturated CO3 layer has been studied by high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). A weakly bound state of CO2 is stabilized by the presence of carbonate. In addition to the losses of the bend (658 cm−1) and the antisymmetric stretch (2343 cm−1) fundamental modes, the presence of two peaks in the frequency region of the symmetric stretch mode have been observed. Such a loss pair is characteristic for the existence of a Fermi resonance, between the overtone of the bend and the symmetric stretch vibration, which had been studied in detail for the gas phase CO2 molecule. By use of three CO2 isotopomers the existence of the Fermi resonance in the adsorbed state has been verified and the Fermi constant and the energy of the unperturbed vibrations have been determined from the isotopic shifts. The character of the CO2 molecule is almost unaffected by the bonding and it adsorbs in a tilted geometry.