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Blöndal, Katrín

Publications and source records attributed to Blöndal, Katrín.

Configuration Space Integration for Adsorbate Partition Functions: The Effect of Anharmonicity on the Thermophysical Properties of CO–Pt(111) and CH 3 OH–Cu(111)

A method for computing anharmonic thermophysical properties for adsorbates on metal surfaces has been extended to include libration, or frustrated rotation. Classical phase space integration is used with Monte Carlo sampling of the configuration space to obtain the partition function of CO on Pt(111) and CH 3 OH on Cu(111). A minima-preserving neural network potential energy surrogate is used within the integration routines. Direct state counting using discrete variable representation is used to benchmark the results. We find that the phase space integration approach is in excellent agreement with the direct state counting results. Comparison with standard models such as the harmonic oscillator indicates that anharmonicity contributes significantly to the thermodynamic properties of CH 3 OH on Cu(111). We find that there is also a considerable difference between the harmonic oscillator and phase space integration for CO on Pt(111), although the discrepancy can largely be attributed to the presence of multiple binding sites within the unit cell. We demonstrate that a multisite harmonic oscillator model might be sufficient for CO-Pt(111). A more thorough description of the potential energy surface, which can be achieved with phase space integration, is necessary for weakly bound adsorbates such as CH 3 OH. In conclusion, the thermophysical properties were used to calculate free energies of adsorption on the respective metals, and subsequently the equilibrium constants and Langmuir isotherms in relevant temperature ranges. The results show that the choice of model to obtain partition functions greatly affects the resulting surface coverages in kinetic models.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Adsorbate Partition Functions via Phase Space Integration: Quantifying the Effect of Translational Anharmonicity on Thermodynamic Properties

A new method for computing anharmonic thermophysical properties for adsorbates on metal surfaces is presented. Classical Monte Carlo phase space integration is performed to calculate the partition function for the motion of a hydrogen atom on Cu(111). Here, a minima-preserving neural network potential energy surface is used within the integration routine. Two different sampling schema for generating the training data are presented, and two different density functionals are used. The results are benchmarked against direct state counting results by using discrete variable representation. The phase space integration results are in excellent quantitative agreement with the benchmark results. Additionally, both the discrete variable representation and the phase space integration results confirm that the motion of H on Cu(111) is highly anharmonic. The results were applied to calculate the free energy of dissociative adsorption of H 2 and the resulting Langmuir isotherms at 400, 800, and 1200 K in a partial pressure range of 0–1 bar. It shows that the anharmonic effects lead to significantly higher predicted surface site fractions of hydrogen.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗