Vibrationally enhanced associative photodesorption of molecular hydrogen from Ru(0001)

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.

Diffusion Rates for Hydrogen on Pd(111) from Molecular Quantum Dynamics Calculations

The van Hove formula for the dynamical structure factor (DSF) related to particle scattering at mobile adsorbates is extended to include the relaxation of the adsorbates' vibrational states. The total rate obtained from the DSF is assumed to be the sum of a diffusion and a relaxation rate. A simple kinetic model to support this assumption is presented. To illustrate its potential applicability, the formula is evaluated using wave functions, energies, and lifetimes of vibrational states obtained for H/Pd(111) from first-principle calculations. Results show that quantum effects can be expected to be important even at room temperature.

Stochastic approach to laser-induced ultrafast dynamics: the desorption of H(2)/D(2) from Ru(0001)

The desorption of molecular hydrogen and deuterium induced by femtosecond-laser pulses is studied theoretically for the so-called DIMET (Desorption Induced by Multiple Electronic Transitions) process. These investigations are based on nonadiabatic classical Monte Carlo trajectory (CMCT) simulations on a ground and an excited state potential energy surface, including up to all six adsorbate degrees of freedom. The focus is on the hot-electron mediated energy transfer from the surface to the molecule and back, and the energy partitioning between the different degrees of freedom of the desorbing molecules. We first validate for a two-mode model comprising the desorption mode and the internal vibrational coordinate, the classical Monte Carlo trajectory method by comparing with Monte Carlo wavepacket (MCWP) calculations arising from a fully quantum mechanical open-system density matrix treatment. We then proceed by extending the CMCT calculations to include all six nuclear degrees of freedom of the desorbing molecule. This allows for a detailed comparison between theory and experiment concerning isotope effects, energy partitioning (translational, vibrational, and rotational energies and their distributions), and the dependence of these properties on the laser fluence. The most important findings are as follows. (i) CMCT agrees qualitative with the MCWP scheme. (ii) The basic experimental features such as the large isotope effect, the non-linear increase of yield with laser fluence, translationally hot products (in the order of several 1000 K) and non-equipartitioning of translational and internal energies (E(trans) > E(vib) > E(rot)) are well reproduced. (iii) Predictions concerning a strong angular dependence of translational energies at large observation angles are also made.