As far as metal halides are widely used as catalytic supports, as insulators for nanoelectronics, or optoelectronic components, their surface properties have been a subject of many studies by different methods. In our studies we have applied FTIR spectroscopy at variable temperatures to some less investigated phenomena such as lateral interactions in the adsorbed layer, linkage isomerism of surface species and photoinduced reactions on the surface of halides.
The technique of salt film deposition onto a support cooled with liquid nitrogen have been developed. The acid and basic sites of surfaces were characterized by adsorption of CO and CHF3 as probe molecules. The strongest adsorption sites, presumably the low coordinated atoms on kink or edges of microcrystals were shown to reveal linkage isomerism in CO adsorption i.e. are capable of binding the molecules via carbon or oxygen atom.
The resonance dipole-dipole interaction was shown to influence band position and shape even for symmetric non-polar molecules such as SF6 or CF4 adsorbed on metal fluorides.
The experiments on photosorption of simple gases and photocatalytic reactions of ozone are in progress.