Surface science emerged in the 1960s with the development of reliable ultrahigh vacuum apparatus, providing exact structures of surfaces of metal single crystals, information about their compositions, and relationships between surface structure and composition and catalytic reaction rates. Catalysis, the acceleration of a chemical reaction by a catalyst, provided much of the driving force for the early development of surface science.

Impact of Surface Science on Catalysis includes coverage of the dynamics of reactions at surfaces on time scales ranging from 10^-13 to 10³ seconds; the density functional theory of adsorption and surface chemical reactions; adsorption energetics and bonding: femtomole calorimetry and first-principles theory; vibrational spectra of reaction intermediates on catalyst surfaces by sum frequency generation; and more.

From the Preface: “...As surface science continues its rapid development, this volume illustrates how it is still driven by the challenges of catalysis and how both theory and scanning tunneling microscopy have forcefully emerged as essential tools. It is also evident how surface science continues to shore up the foundation of catalytic science.”

Target Audience: Any reader concerned with the relationship of catalysis to surface science.

Table of Contents:

Dynamics of Reactions at Surfaces

Theoretical Surface Science and Catalysis — Calculations and Concepts

Scanning Tunnel Microscopy Studies of Catalytic Reactions

Adsorption Energetics and Bonding From Femtomole Calorimetry and From First Principle Theory

Active Sites on Oxides: From Single Crystals to Catalysts

Catalysis and Surface Science: What Do We Learn From Studies of Oxide-Supported Cluster Model Systems?

Sum Frequency Generation: Surface Vibrational Spectroscopy Studies of Catalytic Reactions on Metal Single-Crystal Surfaces

Index