Carbon Dioxide Adsorption on V2O3(0001)

The adsorption of carbon dioxide on epitaxially grown $$\text {V}_{2}\text {O}_{3}$$ layers on Au(111) has been studied with thermal desorption and infrared absorption spectroscopy. It is shown that the as-grown grown oxide layer does not react with carbon dioxide; the molecule binds weakly to the surface, stays intact and desorbs below 200 K. If the oxide is weakly reduced such that part or all of the oxygen atoms of the surface vanadyl layer is removed, then a surface carboxylate, i.e. $$\text {CO}_{2}^{-}$$ bound to surface vanadium is formed. Part of the $$\text {CO}_{2}$$ derived species decompose into O+CO upon annealing, with the oxygen atoms re-oxidizing the reduced oxide surface.