Surface restructuring and kinetic oscillations in heterogeneous catalytic reactions.
We extend our earlier Monte Carlo simulations of isothermal kinetic oscillations in the NO-H(2)/Pt(100) system [V. P. Zhdanov, Phys. Rev. E 59, 6292 (1999)]. The analysis, based on a lattice-gas model describing surface restructuring in terms of the statistical theory of first-order phase transitions, is primarily focused on adsorbate-diffusion-mediated synchronization of oscillations. The conventional condition for synchronization, (D tau)(1/2)>L (D is the diffusion coefficient, tau the oscillation period, and L the lattice size), is proved to considerably underestimate the role of surface diffusion. Due to the formation of mesoscopic islands, well developed oscillations are found to be possible in the cases when the left part of this condition is much lower than the right part.
Zhdanov
V P
VP
Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, S-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden.