Invited Paper SS1-WeM5
Oxide and Carbonate Surfaces in Dynamic Equilibrium with Water Vapor

Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 9:20 am, Room M

Adsorbed water plays an important role in a wide range of surface phenomena. In this talk, the focus is on water interactions with oxide and carbonate surfaces in dynamic equilibrium with water vapor under ambient conditions of temperature and relative humidity. The coverage and nature of the adsorbed water layer as a function of relative humidity are investigated. Both experiment and theory show that the adsorbed water layer is inhomogeneous and the surface is not uniformly covered even at high relative humidity. The impact of the nature of the adsorbed water layer on the surface chemistry of carbonate and oxide surfaces under ambient conditions will be discussed.