title: Interplay of first-order kinetic and thermodynamic phase transitions in heterogeneous catalytic reactions.
abstract: Using the rate constants obtained on the basis of independent transient measurements and density functional theory calculations, we perform Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of the bistable kinetics of the N2O-CO reaction on Pd(110) at 450 K. In the absence of lateral interactions, the MC technique predicts a wide hysteresis loop in perfect agreement with the mean-field analysis. With attractive substrate-mediated lateral interactions resulting in the formation of (1 x 2) O islands and reducing the reaction rate inside islands, the hysteresis is found to be dramatically (about 5 times) narrower. This finding explains why the first-order kinetic phase transition experimentally observed in this reaction is not accompanied by hysteresis.
authors.affiliation: Catalysis Research Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan. zhdanov@catalysis.ru
authors.forename: Vladimir P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Zhdanov
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsushima