The Interaction of H₂With Metal Surfaces

Abstract

The interaction of H2 with metal surfaces gives rise to elastic and inelastic back-scattering, physisorption, dissociative and possibly associative chemisorption. Theoretically, the interaction is the simplest example that displays this complete range of properties. Experimental study is greatly aided by the availability of the isotopes H2, D2 and HD with their well separated masses and well-spaced rotational spectra. H2-metal systems are therefore particularly worthy of study and it would seem feasible through judicious interplay of theory and experiment to understand the interaction in detail. This note constitutes a summary of current theoretical ideas and their relation to experiment.