Abstract
We have investigated the infrared spectra for carbon monoxide chemisorbed on silica supported ruthenium with and without potassium coating within the frequency range of 1800-2200 $cm^{-1}$ at various ruthenium concentrations and CO pressures. For the system without potassium coating, three bands were observed in the infrared spectra when CO was adsorbed on both the reduced and oxidized form of supported ruthenium. However, the relative intensities of these three bands were found to have no interdependence. Therefore, we have assigned each of these bands as arising from the CO stretching vibration for carbon monoxide molecules adsorbed on the Ru sites of different nature. On coating with potassium, the 2030 $cm^{-1}$ band observed for the system without potassium coating was found to suffer red shift by 10-30 $cm^{-1}$ and we conclude that this bathochromic shift is caused by enhancement in the capability of back donation of electrons from the metal atom to the antibonding ${\pi}{\ast}$ orbitals of CO due to the presence of potassium.