Eley-rideal reactions with N atoms at Ru(0001): formation of NO and N(2)

Six-dimensional quantum dynamics of an Eley-Rideal reaction between gaseous and adsorbed hydrogen atoms on Cu(111)

In the form of direct abstraction of a surface adsorbate by a gaseous projectile, the Eley-Rideal (ER) reaction at the gas-surface interface manifests interesting dynamics. Unfortunately, high-dimensional quantum dynamical (QD) studies for ER reactions remain very challenging, which demands a large configuration space and the coordinate transformation of wavefunctions. Here, we report the first six-dimensional (6D) fully coupled quantum scattering method for studying the ER reaction between gas phase H(D) atoms and adsorbed D(H) atoms on a rigid Cu(111) surface. Reaction probabilities and product rovibrational state distributions obtained by this 6D model are found to be quite different from those obtained by reduced-dimensional QD models, demonstrating the high-dimensional nature of the ER reaction. Using two distinct potential energy surfaces (PESs), we further discuss the influence of the PES on the calculated product vibrational and rotational state distributions, in comparison with experimental results. The lateral corrugation and the exothermicity of the PES are found to play a critical role in controlling the energy disposal in the ER reaction.

Investigating the Eley-Rideal recombination of hydrogen atoms on Cu (111) via a high-dimensional neural network potential energy surface

As a prototypical system for studying the Eley-Rideal (ER) mechanism at the gas-surface interface, the reaction between incident H/D atoms and pre-covered D/H atoms on Cu (111) has attracted much experimental and theoretical interest. Detailed final state-resolved experimental data have been available for about thirty-years, leading to the discovery of many interesting dynamical features. However, previous theoretical models have suffered from reduced-dimensional approximations and/or omitting energy transfer to surface phonons and electrons, or the high cost of on-the-fly ab initio molecular dynamics, preventing quantitative comparisons with experimental data. Herein, we report the first high-dimensional neural network potential (NNP) for this ER reaction based on first-principles calculations including all molecular and surface degrees of freedom. Thanks to the high efficiency of this NNP, we are able to perform extensive quasi-classical molecular dynamics simulations with the inclusion of the excitation of low-lying electron-hole pairs (EHPs), which generally yield good agreement with various experimental results. More importantly, the isotopic and/or EHP effects in total reaction cross-sections and distributions of the product energy, scattering angle, and individual ro-vibrational states have been more clearly shown and discussed. This study sheds valuable light on this important ER prototype and opens a new avenue for further investigations of ER reactions using various initial conditions, surface temperatures, and coverages in the future.

Direct Hydrogenation of Dinitrogen and Dioxygen via Eley-Rideal Reactions

Most Eley-Rideal abstraction reactions involve an energetic gas-phase atom reacting directly with a surface adsorbate to form a molecular product. Molecular projectiles are generally less reactive, may dissociate upon collision with the surface, and thus more difficult to prove that they can participate intact in abstraction reactions. Here we provide experimental evidence for direct reactions occurring between molecular N2 (+) and O2 (+) projectiles and surface-adsorbed D atoms in two steps: first, the two atoms of the diatomic molecule undergo consecutive collisions with a metal surface atom without bond rupture; and second, the rebounding molecule abstracts a surface D atom to form N2 D and O2 D intermediates, respectively, detected as ions. The kinematics of the collisional interaction confirms product formation by an Eley-Rideal reaction mechanism and accounts for inelastic energy losses commensurate with surface re-ionization. Such energetic hydrogenation of dinitrogen may provide facile activation of its triple bond as a first step towards bond cleavage.

Kinematics of Eley-Rideal Reactions at Hyperthermal Energies

Direct or Eley-Rideal reactions between energetic N^{+} and O^{+} projectiles and O atoms, adsorbed onto Pt and Pd surfaces, are studied experimentally at incidence energies between 20 and 200 eV. The exit energies of the diatomic molecular products NO and O_{2} depend linearly on the incidence energy of the corresponding projectiles. A reaction mechanism is proposed, where the incident projectile collides with a single metal atom on the surface, linked to an adsorbed O atom. At the apsis point, a high-energy transient state is formed between the projectile, substrate, and adsorbate atoms. As the projectile begins to rebound, the transient state decomposes into a diatomic molecule, consisting of the original projectile and the adsorbed O atom, which exits the surface with memory of the incidence energy. Energy and momentum conservation during this single-bounce event (atom in, molecule out) accurately predict the exit energy of the molecular product, thus capturing the kinematics of the direct reaction.

Kinetic analysis of interaction between N atoms and O-covered Ru(0001)

Eley-Rideal (ER) reactions involving neutral atoms heavier than hydrogen reacting with adsorbed atoms of similar mass were first observed in recent molecular beam experiments by Zaharia et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 053201 (2014)]. Through analysis of two types of measurements, they obtained different estimations for the N-O ER reaction cross section, one of which is unexpectedly high. This was qualitatively accounted for by invoking a secondary effect whereby the presence of N adatoms on the surface acted to "shield" O adatoms from prompt recombinative desorption. We apply a rate equation model that includes two ER processes involving different adsorbed species (N-Oad and N-Nad) and an N-adsorption process to the full-beam exposure subset of the experimental data in order to study the reaction kinetics. Values for the individual reaction cross sections are derived. The measured N2 response can be well described by the model, but it is insufficient to completely describe the NO response. Modeling of different exposures is used to evaluate the qualitative picture presented by Zaharia et al.