Rotational Effects in the Dissociative Adsorption Dynamics of Hydrogen on a Pd Surface

Abstract

We show that the recently observed nonmonotonous dependence of theadsorption probability of H₂/Pd(111) on the initial rotational statej of the impinging H₂ can be accounted for by considering the twofactors- Steering (Dynamical Reorientation) and Rotational-Translational Energy Transfer (Bond-Length Extension), and the importance of the incidence energy (velocity) of the impinging hydrogen molecule. Furthermore, we show that considerable isotope effects can be observed for the j-dependence of the adsorption probability of hydrogen on Pd.