Adsorption of ethylene on stepped Ag(n10) surfaces

The adsorption of ethylene on stepped Ag(n 10), n = 2, 3, 4, surfaces has been studied and characterised using density-functional theory. We find that ethylene prefers to adsorb on the on-top sites of the step edge, the corresponding binding energy being practically insensitive to the molecular orientation with respect to the C-C axis rotation around the surface normal. The (100) terraces were found to behave similarly to the flat Ag(100) surface which binds ethylene only very weakly.