Dedicated to Süd-Chemie on the occasion of its 150th anniversary.The surface-science approach to heterogeneous catalysis is based on well-controlled studies on model catalysts (usually single-crystal surfaces) under ultrahigh-vacuum (UHV) conditions.[1] These model systems make it possible to address specific problems on the atomic scale that are virtually impossible to solve with studies on polycrystalline catalyst powder samples. It is particularly important that the full strength of theory can be applied to such model systems, because a meaningful comparison between experiment and electronic structure calculations is only possible for substrates where the structure is well-defined.[2]Herein, we demonstrate the strength of such a combined experimental and theoretical approach for ZnO surfaces by explaining the microscopic origins of an unexpected increase in CO binding energies upon preadsorption of CO 2 . At present, it is tacitly assumed in most treatments that binding energies of individual molecules on oxides are not substantially affected by coadsorbates. Herein, we provide direct experimental evidence that substrate-mediated interactions between coadsorbates can significantly affect total binding energies on metals oxides and that these effects are present in both single crystals and powder samples. Accurate density functional theory (DFT) calculations explain this effect as a change in the Lewis acidity of metal cations exposed on an oxide surface when carbonates are formed on adjacent sites.The present detailed analysis was triggered by the unexpected results of a study of ZnO powder samples under high-pressure conditions using static adsorption microcalorimetry and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD). Figure 1 shows the isotherms of CO adsorption on the CO 2 -modified ZnO powder (Nanotek) and for a CO 2 -free sample. Exposure of the latter to CO led to a very small uptake, whereas the amount of adsorbed CO was dramatically enhanced after modification of the ZnO surfaces by CO 2 . Further experiments demonstrated that the adsorption of CO on the CO 2 -preadsorbed sample is fully reversible at room temperature.The initial heat of CO adsorption on CO 2 -modified ZnO powders as derived from the microcalorimetry data was approximately 62 kJ mol À1 , which is much higher than that measured on CO 2 -free samples (about 35 kJ mol À1 , Table 1). The adsorption energies of CO at higher coverages can be calculated by fitting the microcalorimetry and TPD data using a uniform energy distribution model on heterogeneous surfaces. [3,4] The corresponding results are presented in Table 1. The adsorption energy of CO varies between Figure 1. Isotherms of CO adsorption on a) CO 2 -free ZnO powder (Nanotek); b) CO 2 -modified ZnO powder, first adsorption; c) CO 2 -modified ZnO powder, second adsorption after evacuation. The calculated curve for CO 2 -modified ZnO is given by the solid line. All isotherms were obtained at room temperature. The coverage of preadsorbed CO 2 amounts to 0.5 monolayers (ML). According to th...