Mass transport of alkali metal with pulses in a surface reaction

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2008 Nov;78(5 Pt 2):055203. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.78.055203. Epub 2008 Nov 20.

Abstract

It is shown that the pulses which develop in the NO+H2 reaction on an alkali promoted Rh(110) surface reaction can transport alkali metal. This leads to the accumulation of a substantial alkali-metal concentration in the collision area of pulse trains. Realistic simulations revealed that the effect is due to the strong energetic interactions of the alkali metal with coadsorbates, i.e., the attractive interaction with coadsorbed oxygen and the effectively repulsive interaction with coadsorbed nitrogen.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't