Quantum dynamics of dissociative adsorption of H2 and D2:The time-dependent wave packet method

A time dependent quantum wave packet method was used to study the dynamics of dissociative adsorption of H 2 and D 2 on a flat and static surface. The molecule surface interaction is described using a modified London Eyring Polanyi Sato (LEPS) type potential for the H 2/Ni(100) system. The three dimensional (3 D) dissociation probabilities were calculated for different initial rovibrational states as a function of initial incident energies. Our results show that the dissociation of the diatomic rotational states whose quantum numbers satisfy j+m =odd is forbidden at low energies for the homonuclear H 2 and D 2 due to the selection rule. The effect of the rotational orientation of diatoms on adsorption predicts that the in plane rotation (m=j) is more favorable for dissociation than the out of plane rotation (m=0) . Enhanced dissociation for vibrationally excited molecules and the significant enhancement of the dissociation probability of H 2 when compared to D 2 were explained reasonably in terms of quantum mechanical zero point energies, the tunneling effect and the reflection from an activation barrier.