Melting transitions from the S 1 and S 2 phases of ethane adsorbed on graphite

Abstract

Heat capacity measurements of ethane adsorbed on graphite in the vicinity of the melting transition from the low-density submonolayer solid phase S 1 and from the intermediate density solid phase S 2 show only weak and broad anomalies consistent with continuous melting transitions from both solids. These heat capacity results allow the phase diagram of ethane at intermediate coverages to be mapped out in detail. Good agreement is found with previous determinations of the phase boundaries obtained using low-energy electron diffraction.