Reaction, surface chemical

The importance of surface science is most often exliibited in studies of adsorption on surfaces, especially in regards to teclmological applications. Adsorption is the first step in any surface chemical reaction or film-growdi process. The mechanisms of adsorption and the properties of adsorbate-covered surfaces are discussed in section Al.7.3. 

Wlien a surface is exposed to a gas, the molecules can adsorb, or stick, to the surface. Adsorption is an extremely important process, as it is the first step in any surface chemical reaction. Some of die aspects of adsorption that surface science is concerned with include the mechanisms and kinetics of adsorption, the atomic bonding sites of adsorbates and the chemical reactions that occur with adsorbed molecules. 

Such lifetimes vary from less than a picosecond to times greater than the age of the universe [29]. Thus, adsorbed states with short lifetimes can occur during a surface chemical reaction, or long-lived adsorbed states exist in which atoms or molecules remain attached to a surface indefinitely. 

Surface chemical reactions can be classified into tliree major categories [29] ... 

Recently, in situ studies of catalytic surface chemical reactions at high pressures have been undertaken [46, 47]. These studies employed sum frequency generation (SFG) and STM in order to probe the surfaces as the reactions are occurring under conditions similar to those employed for industrial catalysis (SFG is a laser-based teclmique that is described in section A 1.7.5.5 and section BT22). These studies have shown that the highly stable adsorbate sites that are probed under vacuum conditions are not necessarily tlie same sites that are active in high-pressure catalysis. Instead, less stable sites that are only occupied at high pressures are often responsible for catalysis. Because the active... 

Surface photochemistry can drive a surface chemical reaction in the presence of laser irradiation that would not otherwise occur. The types of excitations that initiate surface photochemistry can be roughly divided into those that occur due to direct excitations of the adsorbates and those that are mediated by the substrate. In a direct excitation, the adsorbed molecules are excited by the laser light, and will directly convert into products, much as they would in the gas phase. In substrate-mediated processes, however, the laser light acts to excite electrons from the substrate, which are often referred to as hot electrons . These hot electrons then interact with the adsorbates to initiate a chemical reaction. 

Femtosecond lasers represent the state-of-the-art in laser teclmology. These lasers can have pulse widths of the order of 100 fm s. This is the same time scale as many processes that occur on surfaces, such as desorption or diffusion. Thus, femtosecond lasers can be used to directly measure surface dynamics tlirough teclmiques such as two-photon photoemission [85]. Femtochemistry occurs when the laser imparts energy over an extremely short time period so as to directly induce a surface chemical reaction [86]. 

Weakliem P C and Carter E A 1993 Surface chemical reactions studied via ab /n/f/o-derived molecular dynamics simulations fluorine etching of Si(IOO) J. Chem Phys. 98 737-45... 

Complementing these very well established approaches for the study of any scientific field, namely experiments and analytical theory, very recently, computer simulations have become a powerful tool for the study of a great variety of processes occurring in nature in general [4-6], as well as surface chemical reactions in particular [7]. Within this context, the aim of this chapter is not only to offer a critical overview of recent progress in the area of computer simulations of surface reaction processes, but also to provide an outlook of promising trends in most of the treated topics. 

II. ELEMENTARY STEPS IN SURFACE CHEMICAL REACTION PROCESSES... 

Within this context, the following sections are devoted to the description of the state of the art in the modeling and simulation of surface chemical reactions of simple systems using Monte Carlo techniques. 

The study of surface chemical reaction processes using computer simulation techniques is quite an active field of research. Within this context the Monte Carlo method emerges as a powerful tool which contributes to the... 

Due to the interesting technological applications, challenging phenomena, and continuous output of experimental information, it is expected that the study of surface chemical reactions will continue to attract increasing activity in the future. 

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