Nonlinear island growth dynamics in adsorbate-induced restructuring of quasihexagonal reconstructed Pt{100} by CO

Abstract

We have made the first dynamic measurement of the (1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)-CO island growth rate and the simultaneous CO coverage on the quasihexagonal reconstructed (hex-R) phase during the CO-induced hex-R\ensuremath{\rightarrow}(1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1) phase transformation on Pt{100}. The island growth rate is described by a strongly nonlinear power law with respect to the local CO coverage on the hex-R phase at surface temperatures between 380 and 410 K, with an apparent reaction order of 4.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.4. These kinetics manifest themselves as a strongly flux dependent net sticking probability.