Island formation without attractive interactions

We show that adsorbates on surfaces can form islands even if there are no attractive interactions. Instead strong repulsion between adsorbates at short distances can lead to islands, because such islands increase the entropy of the adsorbates that are not part of the islands. We suggest that this mechanism cause the observed island formation in O/Pt(111), but it may be important for many other systems as well.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Coupling of kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of surface reactions to transport in a fluid for heterogeneous catalytic reactor modeling

We have developed a method to couple kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of surface reactions at a molecular scale to transport equations at a macroscopic scale. This method is applicable to steady state reactors. We use a finite difference upwinding scheme and a gap-tooth scheme to efficiently use a limited amount of kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. In general the stochastic kinetic Monte Carlo results do not obey mass conservation so that unphysical accumulation of mass could occur in the reactor. We have developed a method to perform mass balance corrections that is based on a stoichiometry matrix and a least-squares problem that is reduced to a non-singular set of linear equations that is applicable to any surface catalyzed reaction. The implementation of these methods is validated by comparing numerical results of a reactor simulation with a unimolecular reaction to an analytical solution. Furthermore, the method is applied to two reaction mechanisms. The first is the ZGB model for CO oxidation in which inevitable poisoning of the catalyst limits the performance of the reactor. The second is a model for the oxidation of NO on a Pt(111) surface, which becomes active due to lateral interaction at high coverages of oxygen. This reaction model is based on ab initio density functional theory calculations from literature

Combining density-functional calculations with kinetic models: NO/Rh(111)

We present a dynamic Monte-Carlo model involving lateral interactions and different adsorption sites (top, fcc and hcp). Using this model in combination with kinetic parameters from UHV experiments and lateral interactions derived from DFT calculations we have reproduced the ordering behavior of NO on Rh(111) during adsorption and the temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of NO from Rh(111) under UHV conditions. The formation of c(4X2)-2NO domains at 0.50 ML coverage is shown to depend strongly on the next-next-nearest-neighbor repulsion between the NO adsorbates in our model. The formation of the (2X2)-3NO structure at higher coverage follows from the avoidance of the strong next-nearest-neighbor repulsion in favor of the occupation of the top sites. A single-site model was able to reproduce the experimental TPD, but the lateral interactions were at odds with the values of the DFT calculations. A three-site model resolved this problem. It was found that all NO dissociates during TPD for initial coverages of NO below 0.20 ML. The nitrogen atoms recombine at higher temperatures. For NO coverages larger than 0.20 ML, 0.20 ML NO dissociates while the rest desorbs. This is due to a lack of accessible sites on the surface, i.e., sites where a molecule can bind without experiencing large repulsions with neighboring adsorbates. For NO coverages above 0.20 ML, the dissociation of NO causes a segregation into separate NO and N1O islands. The dissociation causes the surface to be filled with adsorbates, and the adsorbates are therefore pushed closer together. NO on one hand can easily be compressed into islands of 0.50 ML coverage, because there is no large next-next-nearest-neighbor repulsion. N+O on the other hand form islands with a lower coverage (0.30–0.35 ML) due to the considerable next-next-nearest-neighbor repulsion. Top bound NO (above 0.50 ML initial coverage) does not dissociate during TPD. It desorbs in a separate peak at 380 K