Hydrogen atom recombination on graphite at 10 K via the Eley-Rideal mechanism

This work reports results on the recombination of hydrogen atoms on a graph ite surface at 10 K obtained using a detailed semi-classical molecular dyna mics method in connection with the use of recently proposed ab initio poten tial energy surfaces. The calculated recombination probabilities together w ith the vibrational distributions of the formed H-2 molecules obtained assu ming that the surface reaction proceeds via the Eley-Rideal mechanism can h ave an impact on the chemistry of H-2 formation in interstellar space. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.