ROLE OF OXYGEN AND OTHER CHEMISORBED SPECIES ON SURFACE PROCESSES FOR METALS AND SEMICONDUCTORS: APPROACHES TO DYNAMICAL STUDIES OF SURFACE PROCESSES.

The authors examine some conceptual ideas useful in considering the chemistry of chemisorbed species (particularly oxygen) on surface processes. Topics analyzed include the surfaces of Si and GaAs and the oxidation of these surfaces; surface oxides of metal surfaces and some possible processes in Ag-catalyzed epoxidation of ethylene; the likely metal-oxide surface states of molybdates and of their possible roles in catalytic processes on these surfaces; the role of transition metals in leading to facile allowed reactions; and the oxidative addition of H//2 to a Pt complex as an illustration of how a metal can bring about the scission of the H-H bond with little or no activation barrier.