Relationship between Kinetic and Thermodynamic Characteristics of Oxygen Dissociative Adsorption on Close-Packed Metal Surfaces

Abstract

The activation energies and rate constants characterizing dissociative oxygen adsorption on transition and noble metal surfaces are calculated using a previously developed analytical formalism. Three approaches are considered: classical and quantum nonadiabatic approaches as well as a classical adiabatic approach. The results show a nonlinear relationship between the activation energies and the corresponding reaction energies. The effects due to the quantum description of the O-O bond and due to the Condon approximation are discussed. Calculated activation energies are compared with published experimental data.