ANALYTICAL TREATMENT OF A HETEROGENEOUS REACTION

An analytical method has been used to study the kinetics of a generic heterogeneous catalytic reaction, A + B --> AB. This reaction includes the elementary steps of adsorption and desorption of reactants A and B, surface reaction through the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism, and de sorption of the product AB. Despite its simplicity, this analytical ap proach shows some of the general features observed by simulating the p resent mechanism on a large N x N lattice.(5-7) The rate of reaction d epends on the rate of desorption of reactants with a maximum at a valu e similar to those found by performing heavy simulations. Coverage flu ctuations of reactants, as a function of their rate of desorption on a 2 x 2 lattice, have a behavior similar to that found on large N x N l attices.