Metal- and hydrogen-bonding competition during water adsorption on Pd(111) and Ru(0001).

The initial stages of water adsorption on the Pd(111) and Ru(0001) surfaces have been investigated experimentally by scanning tunneling microscopy in the temperature range between 40 and 130 K, and theoretically with density functional theory (DFT) total energy calculations and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) image simulations. Below 125 K, water dissociation does not occur at any appreciable rate, and only molecular films are formed. Film growth starts by the formation of flat hexamer clusters where the molecules bind to the metal substrate through the O-lone pair while making H-bonds with neighboring molecules.