Validity of the site-averaging approximation for modeling the dissociative chemisorption of H2 on Cu(111) surface: a quantum dynamics study on two potential energy surfaces.

A new finding of the site-averaging approximation was recently reported on the dissociative chemisorption of the HCl/DCl+Au(111) surface reaction [T. Liu, B. Fu, and D. H. Zhang, J. Chem. Phys. 139, 184705 (2013); T. Liu, B. Fu, and D. H. Zhang, J. Chem. Phys. 140, 144701 (2014)]. Here, in order to investigate the dependence of new site-averaging approximation on the initial vibrational state of H2 as well as the PES for the dissociative chemisorption of H2 on Cu(111) surface at normal incidence, we carried out six-dimensional quantum dynamics calculations using the initial state-selected time-dependent wave packet approach, with H2 initially in its ground vibrational state and the first vibrational excited state. The corresponding four-dimensional site-specific dissociation probabilities are also calculated with H2 fixed at bridge, center, and top sites. These calculations are all performed based on two different potential energy surfaces (PESs). It is found that the site-averaging dissociation probability over 15 fixed sites obtained from four-dimensional quantum dynamics calculations can accurately reproduce the six-dimensional dissociation probability for H2 (v = 0) and (v = 1) on the two PESs.