Adsorption of maleic anhydride on Pt(111)

The surface chemistry of maleic anhydride (MA) has been studied on Pt(111) with temperature programmed desorption (TPD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Adsorption of MA takes place at 170 K forming multilayers. We have studied the behavior of distinct carbon and oxygen species of MA depending on the surface temperature. MA-TPD indicates three main desorption temperatures; at 240 K, approximately 60% of total MA on the surface shows molecular desorption. At high temperatures (360 and 550 K) MA shows dissociative decomposition with production of C2H2, CO and CO2 fragments. A plausible decomposition pathway of MA on the Pt(111) surface is discussed. DFT calculations provide details of the adsorption geometry.