Chemistry. Toward vibrational mode control in catalysis.
Vibrational excitations of specific bonds in molecules have been used to enhance the reactivity of the molecules in direct gas-phase reactions. In his Perspective, Luntz highlights a report by Beck et al., who show that such vibrational control may also be possible for catalytic reactions at a surface. The authors demonstrate that differently excited deuterated methane molecules have different dissociation probabilities on a nickel surface, even though the energies of the different molecules are similar.
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Department of Physics, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense M, Denmark. acluntz@pacbell.net