Efficient channel of the associative oxygen desorption from Pt(1 1 1)

Mechanism of the associative desorption of oxygen from the Pt(1 1 1) surface has been studied on atomic level by means of density-functional calculations. Key to the association of two oxygen adatoms into the O2 molecule is the excitation of one of the adatoms to on-top site, where it becomes essentially neutral. The related redistribution of the electronic density at the O adatom leads to the appearance of the lateral attraction with the other O atom, thus providing an efficient channel for associative desorption. Calculated local densities of states resemble the transformation of the electronic structure of adsorbed O adatoms from the reactive to bound state in the course of association.