Electronic friction dominates hydrogen hot-atom relaxation on Pd(100)

Role of Tensorial Electronic Friction in Energy Transfer at Metal Surfaces

An accurate description of nonadiabatic energy relaxation is crucial for modeling atomistic dynamics at metal surfaces. Interfacial energy transfer due to electron-hole pair excitations coupled to motion of molecular adsorbates is often simulated by Langevin molecular dynamics with electronic friction. Here, we present calculations of the full electronic friction tensor by using first order time-dependent perturbation theory at the density functional theory level. We show that the friction tensor is generally anisotropic and nondiagonal, as found for hydrogen atom on Pd(100) and CO on Cu(100) surfaces. This implies that electron-hole pair induced nonadiabatic coupling at metal surfaces leads to friction-induced mode coupling, therefore, opening an additional channel for energy redistribution. We demonstrate the robustness and accuracy of our results by direct comparison to established methods and experimental data.

Electron-Hole Pair Effects in Polyatomic Dissociative Chemisorption: Water on Ni(111)

The influence of electron-hole pairs in dissociative chemisorption of a polyatomic molecule (water) on metal surfaces is assessed for the first time using a friction approach. The atomic local density dependent friction coefficients computed based on a free electron gas embedding model are employed in classical molecular dynamics simulations of the water dissociation dynamics on rigid Ni(111) using a recently developed nine dimensional interaction potential energy surface for the system. The results indicate that nonadiabatic effects are relatively small and they do not qualitatively alter the mode specificity in the dissociation.

Quantum and classical dynamics of reactive scattering of H2 from metal surfaces

State-of-the-art theoretical models allow nowadays an accurate description of H₂/metal surface systems and phenomena relative to heterogeneous catalysis. Here we review the most relevant ones investigated during the last 10 years.

Chemical energy dissipation at surfaces under UHV and high pressure conditions studied using metal–insulator–metal and similar devices

Thin film metal heterostructures have allowed new light to be shed on the dissipation of chemical energy into electric excitations on metal surfaces.

Electronically non-adiabatic influences in surface chemistry and dynamics

Electronically nonadiabatic interactions between molecules and metal surfaces are now well known. But evidence that such interactions influence reaction rates is still scarce. This paper reviews research related to this topic and proposes pathways forward.

Toward a Database of Chemically Accurate Barrier Heights for Reactions of Molecules with Metal Surfaces

Being able to calculate reaction barrier heights to within chemical accuracy (errors < 1 kcal/mol) is crucial to the accurate modeling of chemical reactions. Although accurate databases exist that can help theorists with benchmarking new electronic structure theories on gas-phase chemical reactions, no such databases exist for reactions of molecules with metal surfaces. Nonetheless, most chemicals are made in heterogeneously catalyzed processes, of which many take place over metal particles. Presently, barrier heights for molecule-metal surface reactions have been determined with chemical accuracy for only two systems, that is, H2 + Cu(111) and H2 + Cu(100). This has been done with semiempirically determined density functionals, which were fitted through comparisons of dynamics results with molecular beam sticking probabilities. The prospects of extending the database with chemically accurate data for other molecule-metal reactions, either with the use of semiempirical density functional theory or with first-principles theory, are discussed.

Electronic Friction-Based Vibrational Lifetimes of Molecular Adsorbates: Beyond the Independent-Atom Approximation

We assess the accuracy of vibrational damping rates of diatomic adsorbates on metal surfaces as calculated within the local-density friction approximation (LDFA). An atoms-in-molecules (AIM) type charge partitioning scheme accounts for intramolecular contributions and overcomes the systematic underestimation of the nonadiabatic losses obtained within the prevalent independent-atom approximation. The quantitative agreement obtained with theoretical and experimental benchmark data suggests the LDFA-AIM scheme as an efficient and reliable approach to account for electronic dissipation in ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of surface chemical reactions.