Nitrogen chemistry on ruthenium single-crystal surfaces

The interaction of N2 and NH3 with Ru(0001), (10View the MathML source0), and (11View the MathML source1) single-crystal surfaces was studied by means of LEED, TDS, and HREELS. Results on the initial sticking coefficient for dissociative adsorption of N2 will be compared to recent flow experiments on real catalysts. An overview on N adsorption and NH3 decomposition is given. The open Ru(11View the MathML source1) surface is found to stabilize NH3, NH2, and NH, besides H and N, i.e. the full sequence of products from ammonia decomposition.