Adsorption of carbonyl sulfide on nickel and tungsten films

The interaction of carbonyl sulfide with evaporated nickel and tungsten films has been investigated in the temperature range 195-450 K using gas pressures ranging from 1 to 13 N m/sup -2/. Rapid but mainly associative chemisorption of COS occurred on both metals at 195 K. Further adsorption of COS on W at temperatures 293-450 K was extremely slow and accompanied by more CO desorption than COS adsorbed. Sulfidation of Ni film by COS occurred at temperatures greater than or equal to 293 K with the liberation of carbon monoxide. The rate of adsorption increased with temperature but was independent of COS pressure. The activation energy (E/sub x/) increased with extent (X) of sulfidation to a limiting value of 97 kJ mol/sup -1/. A linear relationship was obtained from the plot of E/sub x/ against 1/X, suggesting the applicability of Cabrera-Mott theory to the sulfidation of Ni film by COS. 20 references, 2 figures, 1 table.