No abstract

The accurate description of the dissociative chemisorption of a molecule on a metal surface requires a chemically accurate description of the molecule–surface interaction. Previously, it was shown that the specific reaction parameter approach to density functional theory (SRP–DFT) enables accurate descriptions of the reaction of dihydrogen with metal surfaces in, for instance, H2 + Pt(111), H2 + Cu(111), and H2 + Cu(100). SRP–DFT likewise allowed a chemically accurate description of dissociation of methane on Ni(111) and Pt(111), and the SRP functional for CH4 + Ni(111) was transferable to CH4 + Pt(111), where Ni and Pt belong to the same group. Here, we investigate whether the SRP density functional derived for H2 + Cu(111) also gives chemically accurate results for H2 + Ag(111), where Ag belongs to the same group as Cu. To do this, we have performed quasi-classical trajectory calculations using the six-dimensional potential energy surface of H2 + Ag(111) within the Born–Oppenheimer static surface approximation. The computed reaction probabilities are compared with both state-resolved associative desorption and molecular beam sticking experiments. Our results do not yet show transferability, as the computed sticking probabilities and initial-state selected reaction probabilities are shifted relative to experiment to higher energies by about 2–3 kcal/mol. The lack of transferability may be due to the different character of the SRP functionals for H2 + Cu and CH4 + group 10 metals, the latter containing a van der Waals correlation functional and the former not.

The accurate description of heterogeneously catalyzed reactions may require chemically accurate evaluation of barriers for reactions of molecules at the edges of metal nanoparticles. It was recently shown that a semiempirical density functional describing the interaction of a molecule dissociating on a flat metal surface (CHD3 + Pt(111)) is transferable to the same molecule reacting on a stepped surface of the same metal (Pt(211)). However, validation of the method for additional systems is desirable. To address the question whether the specific reaction parameter (SRP) functional that describes H2 + Pt(111) with chemical accuracy is also capable of accurately describing H2 + Pt(211), we have performed molecular beam simulations with the quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) method, using the SRP functional developed for H2 + Pt(111). Our calculations used the Born–Oppenheimer static surface model. The accuracy of the QCT method was assessed by comparison with quantum dynamics results for reaction of the ro-vibrational ground state of H2. The theoretical results for sticking of H2 and D2 on Pt(211) are in quite good agreement with the experiment, but uncertainties remain because of a lack of accuracy of the QCT simulations at low incidence energies and possible inaccuracies in the reported experimental incidence energies at high energies. We also investigated the nonadiabatic effect of electron–hole pair excitation on the reactivity using the molecular dynamics with the electron friction (MDEF) method, employing the local density friction approximation (LDFA). Only small effects of electron–hole pair excitation on sticking are found.

It is important that theory is able to accurately describe dissociative chemisorption reactions on metal surfaces, as such reactions are often rate-controlling in heterogeneously catalyzed processes. Chemically accurate theoretical descriptions have recently been obtained on the basis of the specific reaction parameter (SRP) approach to density functional (DF) theory (DFT), allowing reaction barriers to be obtained with chemical accuracy. However, being semiempirical, this approach suffers from two basic problems. The first is that sticking probabilities (to which SRP density functionals (DFs) are usually fitted) might show differences across experiments, of which the origins are not always clear. The second is that it has proven hard to use experiments on diffractive scattering of H2 from metals for validation purposes, as dynamics calculations using a SRP-DF may yield a rather poor description of the measured data, especially if the potential used contains a van der Waals well. We address the first problem by performing dynamics calculations on three sets of molecular beam experiments on D2 + Pt(111), using four sets of molecular beam parameters to obtain sticking probabilities, and the SRP-DF recently fitted to one set of experiments on D2 + Pt(111). It is possible to reproduce all three sets of experiments with chemical accuracy with the aid of two sets of molecular beam parameters. The theoretical simulations with the four different sets of beam parameters allow one to determine for which range of incidence conditions the experiments should agree well and for which conditions they should show specific differences. This allows one to arrive at conclusions about the quality of the experiments and about problems that might affect the experiments. Our calculations on diffraction of H2 scattering from Pt(111) show both quantitative and qualitative differences with previously measured diffraction probabilities, which were Debye–Waller (DW)-extrapolated to 0 K. We suggest that DW extrapolation, which is appropriate for direct scattering, might fail if the scattering is affected by the presence of a van der Waals well and that theory should attempt to model surface atom motion for reproducing diffraction experiments performed for surface temperatures of 500 K and higher.

Using the Multi-Reference Configuration Interaction method, the adiabatic potential energy surfaces of Li3 are computed. The two lowest electronic states are bound and exhibit a conical intersection. By fitting the calculated potential energy surfaces to the cubic E ⊗ ε Jahn-Teller model we extract the effective Jahn-Teller parameters corresponding to Li3. These are used to set up the transformation matrix which transforms from the adiabatic to a diabatic representation. This diabatization method gives a Hamiltonian for Li3 which is free from singular adiabatic couplings and should be accurate for large internuclear distances, and it thereby allows for bound dynamics in the vicinity of the conical intersection to be explored.