The orientation of the carbonate anion on Ag(110)

The structure of surface carbonate on Ag(110) was studied by near edge X-ray absorption fine structure. The dependence of the intensity of the C(1s) → π* and the C(1s) → σ* transitions of the carbonate on the orientation of the electric field vector of the incident light indicate that the species lies in a plane parallel to the surface. By comparison of the energy of the C(1s) → σ* transition to CdCO3 the CO bonds are found to be identical and 1.29 ± 0.04 A ̊ in length. The vibrational spectrum of this species reveals the Cs symmetry of the surface-adsorbate complex. © 1988.