Dissociation of CH Species on Ni(111): A HREELS Study

The isothermal dissociation rate of CCH and CH on Ni(111) was measured by following, with HREEL spectroscopy, the intensity of the CH stretching peak as a function of time. By repeating the experiment at several different temperatures we obtained an activation energy of 8±3 kcal/mol for the CCH dissociation reaction and of 12±3 kcal/mol for the CH dissociation reaction. Pre-exponential factors were found to be 10^3±1 s-1 in both cases. Independent thermal desorption spectra show a feature at 470 K and a tail extending up to 600 K which can be assigned to the CCH dissociation and the CH dissociation respectively. The two experiments are quantitatively consistent