Adsorption of water on O(2x2)/Ru(0001): thermal stability and inhibition of dissociation by H2O-O bonding

The effect of preadsorbed oxygen on the subsequent adsorption and reactions of water on Ru(0001) has been studied using low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and DFT calculations. Experiments were carried out for O coverages close to 0.25 ML. It was found that no dissociation of water takes place up to the desorption temperature of {approx}180-230 K. DFT calculations show that intact water on O(2x2)/Ru(0001) is {approx} 0.49 eV more stable than the dissociation products, H and OH, at their preferred fcc and top adsorption sites