Expanding on the ideas first presented in Gerhard Ertl's acclaimed Baker Lectures at Cornell University, Reactions at Solid Surfaces comprises an authoritative, self-contained, book-length introduction to surface reactions for both professional chemists and students alike. Outlining our present understanding of the fundamental processes underlying reactions at solid surfaces, the book provides the reader with a complete view of how chemistry works at surfaces, and how to understand and probe the dynamics of surface reactions. Comparing traditional surface probes with more modern ones, and bringing together various disciplines in a cohesive manner, Gerhard Ertl's Reactions at Solid Surfaces serves well as a primary text for graduate students in introductory surface science or chemistry, as well as a self-teaching resource for professionals in surface science, chemical engineering, or nanoscience.

This book offers a unique perspective of the impact of scanning probe microscopies on our understanding of the chemistry of the surface at the nanoscale. Research oriented, with the concepts gleaned from Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy being related to the more established and accepted views in surface chemistry and catalysis the authors have addresses the question "How do the models based on classical spectroscopic and kinetic studies stand up to scrutiny at the atom - resolved level?". In taking this approach the reader, new to the field of surface chemistry, should be able to obtain a perspective on how the evidence from STM confirms or questions long standing tenets. An emphasis is given to "how did we get to where we are now" and a large number of figures from the literature are included along with suggestions for further reading. Topics discussed include: - the dynamics of oxygen chemisorption at metal surfaces - control of oxygen states and surface reconstruction - dissociative chemisorption of diatomic and hydrocarbon molecules - nanoparticles and chemical reactivity - STM at high pressures - structural studies of sulfur containing molecules and molecular templating This book will appeal to all those who wish to become familiar with the contribution Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy has made to the understanding of the field of surface chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis and also to those who are new to catalysis, a fascinating and important area of chemistry.

Reactions at mineral surfaces are central to all geochemical processes. As minerals comprise the rocks of the Earth, the processes occurring at the mineral–aqueous fluid interface control the evolution of the rocks and hence the structure of the crust of the Earth during processes such as metamorphism, metasomatism, and weathering. In recent years focus has been concentrated on mineral surface reactions made possible through the development of advanced analytical methods such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), advanced electron microscopies (SEM and TEM), phase shift interferometry, confocal Raman spectroscopy, and advanced synchrotron-based applications, to enable mineral surfaces to be imaged and analyzed at the nanoscale. Experiments are increasingly complemented by molecular simulations to confirm or predict the results of these studies. This has enabled new and exciting possibilities to elucidate the mechanisms that govern mineral–fluid reactions. In this Special Issue, “Mineral Surface Reactions at the Nanoscale”, we present 12 contributions that highlight the role and importance of mineral surfaces in varying fields of research.

Kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) simulations still represent a quite new area of research, with a rapidly growing number of publications. Broadly speaking, kMC can be applied to any system describable as a set of minima of a potential-energy surface, the evolution of which will then be regarded as hops from one minimum to a neighboring one. The hops in kMC are modeled as stochastic processes and the algorithms use random numbers to determine at which times the hops occur and to which neighboring minimum they go. Sometimes this approach is also called dynamic MC or Stochastic Simulation Algorithm, in particular when it is applied to solving macroscopic rate equations. This book has two objectives. First, it is a primer on the kMC method (predominantly using the lattice-gas model) and thus much of the book will also be useful for applications other than to surface reactions. Second, it is intended to teach the reader what can be learned from kMC simulations of surface reaction kinetics. With these goals in mind, the present text is conceived as a self-contained introduction for students and non-specialist researchers alike who are interested in entering the field and learning about the topic from scratch.

A treatment of the important aspects of physical chemistry on metal surfaces, including selective oxidation, desulfurization, cyclization, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, alkane activation and hydrogen dissociation dynamics. Case studies focus on on the chemistry of selected systems, rather than the techniques, to convey the excitement of recent developments.

Elementary Processes in Excitations and Reactions on Solid Surfaces explores the fundamental nature of dynamics on solid surfaces. Attempts are made to reveal various aspects of elementary processes in excitations and reactions on solid surfaces by recent theoretical and experimental developments of the subjects such as molecular beams interacting with surfaces, ion beam scattering, laser-induced dynamical processes, electronically induced dynamical processes, and optical properties of solid surfaces. This volume is devided into three parts. Part I is concerned mainly with the rich reaction dynamics on potential-energy surfaces. Part II is devoted to the interplay of excitations and reactions with particular attention given to the charge transfer as well as the energy transfer between well-characterized surfaces and beams. In Part III, new and rapidly developing methods are introduced.

Every day in our life is larded with a huge number of chemical reactions on surfaces. Some reactions occur immediately, for others an activation energy has to be supplied. Thus it happens that though a reaction should thermodynamically run off, it is kinetically hindered. Meaning the partners react only to the thermodynamically more stable product state within a mentionable time if the activation energy of the reaction is supplied. With the help of catalysts the activation energy of a reaction can be lowered. Such catalytic processes on surfaces are widely used in industry. Around 90% of chemicals are produced via a heterogeneously catalyzed process where a reaction occurs on the surface of a catalyst. However, why is it generally possible that such reactions run off with the help of heterogeneous catalysis, meaning with lower activation energy than without presence of a catalyst? What happens with the energy which is released during a reaction of gas particles on surfaces? How is this energy released, when some part of the energy is transferred to the reactant and some to the chemically active surface? Which physical mechanisms play a key role in the energy transfer? These questions are summarized in the concept of the energy dissipation. To observe this energy dissipation phenomenon, we use a new method, the chemoelectronics. With this method we try to detect the released energy, induced by reactions on surfaces, via thin-layered electronic device elements. An aim of this work is to build up very sensitive chemoelectronic sensors to measure electronic excitations released during such simple reactions of molecules as adsorption and desorption and more complicated reactions as the water formation reaction. Therefore a new line of chemoelectronic sensors is developed and characterized in terms of internal photoemission and stability. Meaning the previously used aluminum (Al-AlOx-Ag) and tantalum based (Ta-TaOx-Au) metal-insulator-metal sensors (MIM) are tested and new titanium based (Ti-TiOx-Au) MIMs are developed. Additionally silicon based stepped-metal-insulator-semiconductor sensors (stepped-MIS, Si-SiOx-Au, Si-SiOx-Pt) are set up and characterized. For the characterization of the chemoelectronic sensors the process of internal photoemission is used. Both, chemical- and photoexcitation release hot charge carriers (electrons and holes). Due to the existence of excited carriers in the sensor, a current can be measured without applying a bias voltage. It will be shown that the chemo- and the photosensitivity are strongly related to each other. As a first experiment for the chemical selectivity of the detectors, a stream of excited hydrogen molecules and hydrogen atoms is used. The excitation and radical formation is produced by the interaction of ground state molecules with a hot tungsten surface according to the pioneering experiments of Irving Langmuir. Additionally, excited oxygen beams are studied in this work.