The Adsorption and Desorption of $NH_3$ on Rutile $TiO_2(110)-1{\times}1$ Surfaces

The adsorption of molecular $NH_3$ on rutile $TiO_2(110)-1{\times}1$ surfaces was investigated using a temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) technique combined with a molecular beam apparatus. A quantitative investigation into the TPD spectra of $NH_3$ was made for $NH_3$ adsorbed on two kinds of rutile $TiO_2(110)-1{\times}1$ surfaces with the oxygen vacancy ($V_O$) concentration of ~0% (p-$TiO_2(110)$) and ~5% (r-$TiO_2(110)$), respectively. On both surfaces, non-dissociative adsorption of $NH_3$ was inferred from a quantitative analysis on the amount of adsorbed $NH_3$ and those desorbed. With increasing coverage, the monolayer desorption feature shifted from 400 K toward lower temperatures until it saturates at 160 K, suggesting a repulsive nature in the interaction between $NH_3$ molecules. At the very low coverage regime, the desorption features were found to extend up to 430 K and 400 K on p-$TiO_2(110)$ and p-TiO(110), respectively. As a result, the saturation coverage of monolayer of $NH_3$ was higher on the p-$TiO_2(110)$ surface than on the p-TiO(110) by about 10%. The desorption energy ($E_d$) of $NH_3$ obtained by inversion of the Polanyi-Wigner equation indicated that the difference between the $E_d$'s of $NH_3$ (that is, $E_d(on\;p-TiO_2(110)$) - $E_d$(on p-TiO(110)) was 14 kJ/mol at ${\theta}(NH_3)=0$ and decreased to 0 as the coverage approached to a monolayer. The observed adsorption behavior of $NH_3$ was interpreted using an interaction model between $NH_3$ and surface defects on $TiO_2$ such as VO's and $Ti^{3+}$ interstitials.