The nature of the lattice motion during the dissociation of methane on Ni(111) is analyzed in great detail, and various models for including lattice effects are explored. It is shown that the thermal vibrations of the lattice strongly modify the reactivity, but that the lattice motion is relatively unperturbed by the incident molecule during the collision, in contrast with several earlier predictions. Based on these studies we propose a new model to describe the effects of lattice motion, which agrees well with exact quantum calculations.

• Received 28 May 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.253201