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Water molecules desorbing from the bare Pt(553) surface desorb in a three peak structure, associated with, respectively, desorption from step and terrace sites and the water multilayer. Upon pre-covering the step sites with O(ad) we mainly observe OH formation on step sites. When terrace sites are also pre-covered with O(ad), OH(terrace) formation is favored over OH(step) formation, presumably because OH formed at terrace sites is more easily incorporated in a hydrogen bonded network of OH/H(2)O. This is a gradual process: with increasing θ(O) less OH(step) is formed. Thus, in spite of the fact that OH at step sites has a higher binding energy than OH at terrace sites, the possibility of the formation of OH at terrace sites actually inhibits the formation of OH at step sites, leaving O(step) as the most stable water dissociation product on the step.
Niet et al. (Wed,) studied this question.