Abstract
Quantum state-resolved scattering experiments for methane molecules colliding with a catalytically active nickel surface are compared to scattering from a nickel surface passivated by a single layer of graphene. The vibrational state distribution of the scattered methane is observed to differ dramatically for the two surfaces. Quantum-mechanical inelastic scattering calculations show that these differences are related to the catalytic activity of the surface impact site. Our results demonstrate how inelastic scattering can be used to probe the reactive potential-energy surfaces of molecule-metal systems important to heterogeneous catalysis.
- Received 12 June 2020
- Accepted 28 October 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043251
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society