skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Site-specific dissociation dynamics of H{sub 2}/D{sub 2} on Ag(111) and Co(0001) and the validity of the site-averaging model

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4931040· OSTI ID:22489622
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131 (United States)
  2. Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)

Dissociative chemisorption of polyatomic molecules on metal surfaces involves high-dimensional dynamics, of which quantum mechanical treatments are computationally challenging. A promising reduced-dimensional approach approximates the full-dimensional dynamics by a weighted average of fixed-site results. To examine the performance of this site-averaging model, we investigate two distinct reactions, namely, hydrogen dissociation on Co(0001) and Ag(111), using accurate first principles potential energy surfaces (PESs). The former has a very low barrier of ∼0.05 eV while the latter is highly activated with a barrier of ∼1.15 eV. These two systems allow the investigation of not only site-specific dynamical behaviors but also the validity of the site-averaging model. It is found that the reactivity is not only controlled by the barrier height but also by the topography of the PES. Moreover, the agreement between the site-averaged and full-dimensional results is much better on Ag(111), though quantitative in neither system. Further quasi-classical trajectory calculations showed that the deviations can be attributed to dynamical steering effects, which are present in both reactions at all energies.

OSTI ID:
22489622
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 143, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English