Chemisorption

Examples include macroscopic phenomena that can be very obvious, like corrosion[clarification needed], and subtler effects associated with heterogeneous catalysis, where the catalyst and reactants are in different phases.

The strong interaction between the adsorbate and the substrate surface creates new types of electronic bonds.

[1] In contrast with chemisorption is physisorption, which leaves the chemical species of the adsorbate and surface intact.

It is conventionally accepted that the energetic threshold separating the binding energy of "physisorption" from that of "chemisorption" is about 0.5 eV per adsorbed species.

Due to specificity, the nature of chemisorption can greatly differ, depending on the chemical identity and the surface structural properties.

An important example of chemisorption is in heterogeneous catalysis which involves molecules reacting with each other via the formation of chemisorbed intermediates.

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are formed by chemisorbing reactive reagents with metal surfaces.

It can occur above or below the zero-energy line (with a difference in the Morse potential, a), representing an activation energy requirement or lack of.

For experimental setups of chemisorption, the amount of adsorption of a particular system is quantified by a sticking probability value.

A particular brand of gas-surface chemisorption is the dissociation of diatomic gas molecules, such as hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

The vibrational excitation of the hydrogen molecule promotes dissociation on low index surfaces of copper.