Unified description of H-atom–induced chemicurrents and inelastic scattering

Significance Catalytic reactions at surfaces are exceptionally complex, as they require a multitude of elementary steps. It is therefore very difficult to predict which chemical compounds are catalytically effective. In inelastic scattering experiments in ultrahigh vacuum, the first step of most surface reactions, which is the adsorption, can be studied on model systems in great detail. Based on such experiments new theoretical models can be...