Modeling the adsorption and dissociation of CO on transition metal surfaces

The interaction between transition metal surfaces and simple diatomic molec ules such as CO may lead to breaking and making chemical bonds and trigger important surface catalyzed reactions. We discuss the most common surface i nteraction and orientation models taking into consideration the behavior of each transition metal, the influence of structure, bonding, and coordinati on of the molecules. We emphasize the importance of the precursor tilled st ate in the dissociation of diatomic molecules on transition metal surfaces, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.