Heterogeneous catalysis pattern formation

Computational chemistry has reached a level in which adsorption, dissociation and formation of new bonds can be described with reasonable accuracy. Consequently trends in reactivity patterns can be very well predicted nowadays. Such theoretical studies have had a strong impact in the field of heterogeneous catalysis, particularly because many experimental data are available for comparison from surface science studies (e.g. heats of adsorption, adsorption geometries, vibrational frequencies, activation energies of elementary reaction steps) to validate theoretical predictions. 

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