Water adsorption on stoichiometric and defective SnO 2 (110) surfaces

Water adsorption and dissociation was studied over stoichiometric and defective SnO 2 (110) surfaces using thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) . Water is the only desorbing species observed in TDS, and the amount of dissociation is dependent on surface condition. A surface with a limited density of in-plane oxygen vacancies was found to give the highest dissociation probability for water. The local defect environment plays a considerable role in the activity of SnO 2 (110) surfaces for the heterolytic dissociation of water.