Investigation of nitric oxide adsorption on Zr(0 0 0 1)

Nitric oxide (NO, 15N18O) adsorption on Zr(0 0 0 1) surfaces is studied by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD). The results of our TPD experiments imply that subsurface oxygen and hydrogen are involved in surface reactions during heating, resulting in water and ammonia evolution. NO exposure shifts the Zr(MNV) AES feature by 2 eV indicating a change in oxidation state of +1 after adsorption. A superstructure (1×1) LEED pattern is observed after annealing, and is attributed to residual nitrogen at or near the surface.