Adsorption of ethylene on stepped Ag(n 1 0) surfaces

The adsorption of ethylene on stepped Ag(n 1 0), n=2,3,4, surfaces has been studied and characterised using density-functional theory. We find that ethylene prefers to adsorb on the on-top sites of the step edge, the corresponding binding energy being practically insensitive to the molecular orientation with respect to the C–C axis rotation around the surface normal. The (1 0 0) terraces were found to behave similarly to the flat Ag(1 0 0) surface which binds ethylene only very weakly.