Abstract
Magnetic and volumetric measurements associated with neutron inelastic spectroscopy demonstrate that water is dissociatively adsorbed on nickel. In the case of Raney nickel, for low coverages, the oxygen is fixed on surface aluminium atoms and hydrogen occupies two nickel sites. At high coverage, the water molecule is fixed via oxygen bonding to the hydrogen covered nickel. On nickel prepared from its hydroxide, adsorption is reversible, the water molecule occupying six metal sites.