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The NO chemisorption dynamics on ordered multilayer iron phthalocyanine (FePc) and quasiamorphous multilayer tetra-t-butyl FePc (ttbu-FePc) films on a Au(111) substrate was investigated using the King and Wells reflection technique. The NO zero coverage or initial sticking probabilities (S(0)) were measured as a function of sample temperature (T(s)) and beam energy (E(i)). The experimental results for both films show a monotonic decrease in S(0) with increasing T(s) and E(i) consistent with NO adsorption occurring via a multiple pathway precursor-mediated mechanism in which the adsorbate initially physisorbs to the FePc organics, diffuses, and chemisorbs to the Fe metal center. The saturation coverage is 3% for the multilayer FePc surface and only 2% for the multilayer ttbu-FePc surface consistent with NO chemisorption occurring only on the Fe metal, where NO chemisorbs to 100% of the surface Fe metal centers. The reduced saturation coverage in the ttbu-FePc film is attributed to fewer Fe metal centers in the less dense ttbu-FePc films. A comparison of NO sticking on a multilayer FePc/Au(111) film with NO sticking on a monolayer FePc/Au(111) film shows that S(0) is greater on the multilayer FePc film for all T(s) and E(i), consistent with an increase in collision inelasticity for NO/multilayer FePc/Au(111).

The gas-surface reaction dynamics of NO impinging on an iron(II) phthalocyanine (FePc) monolayer were investigated using King and Wells sticking measurements. The initial sticking probability was measured as a function of both incident molecular beam energy (0.09–0.4eV) and surface temperature (100–300K). NO adsorption onto FePc saturates at 3% of a monolayer for all incident beam energies and surface temperatures, suggesting that the final chemisorption site is confined to the Fe metal centers. At low surface temperature and low incident beam energy, the initial sticking probability is 40% and decreases linearly with increasing beam energy and surface temperature. The results are consistent with the NO molecule sticking onto the FePc molecules via physisorption to the aromatics followed by diffusion to the Fe metal center, or precursor-mediated chemisorption. The adsorption mechanism of NO onto FePc was confirmed by control studies of NO sticking onto metal-free H2Pc, inert Au(111), and reactive Al(111).