RESTRUCTURING AND SELF-ORGANIZATION IN REACTIONS ON METAL-SURFACES

Since the strength of the metal-adsorbate bond is comparable to that of bonds between the metal atoms on a surface, the configuration of the latter will frequently be altered. As a consequence of the surface restructuring the reactivity may also be affected, and eventually new crystal planes may even be formed (facetting). Another aspect of (reversible) surface restructuring is the coupling to oscillatory kinetics, which in turn gives rise to spatio-temporal self-organization of the coverages of reacting species.