Themed collection Surface Reaction Dynamics

Guest editors Xueming Yang and Alec Wodtke introduce the Surface Reaction Dynamics issue of Chemical Society Reviews

Thin film metal heterostructures have allowed new light to be shed on the dissipation of chemical energy into electric excitations on metal surfaces.

Electronically nonadiabatic interactions between molecules and metal surfaces are now well known. But evidence that such interactions influence reaction rates is still scarce. This paper reviews research related to this topic and proposes pathways forward.

Heterogeneous chemistry of the most important atmospheric oxidants, O₃, NO₃, and OH, plays a central role in regulating atmospheric gas concentrations, processing aerosols, and aging materials.

In this article, we review the recent advances in the photoreactions of small molecules with model TiO₂ surfaces, and propose a photocatalytical model based on nonadiabatic dynamics and ground state surface reactions.

State-of-the-art theoretical models allow nowadays an accurate description of H₂/metal surface systems and phenomena relative to heterogeneous catalysis. Here we review the most relevant ones investigated during the last 10 years.

Recent advances in quantum dynamical characterization of polyatomic dissociative chemisorption on accurate global potential energy surfaces are critically reviewed.

Scattering experiments using liquid microjets provide a window into collisions and reactions at the surfaces of high vapor pressure liquids.

Different simulation approaches like MM, QM + MM, and QM/MM, were used to study surface-induced dissociation, soft-landing, and reactive-landing for the peptide-H⁺ + surface collisions.

This tutorial review provides an introduction and overview of quantum state resolved reactivity measurements for methane chemisorption on transition metal surfaces.