In the scattering of atoms and molecules from surfaces, focusing effects can give rise to a variety of significant features in both the experimentally measured elastic and inelastic scattering intensities. The study of focusing is extended to the case of sticking of atoms upon scattering into the physisorption potential well. It is demonstrated that this focused sticking ~FS! should give rise t...

Many methods have been proposed for efficient storage of molecular hydrogen for fuel cell applications. However, despite intense research efforts, the twin U.S. Department of Energy goals of 6.5% mass ratio and 62 kg/m3 volume density has not been achieved either experimentally or via theoretical simulations on reversible model systems. Carbon-based materials, such as carbon nanotubes, have alw...

Calculations are carried out for the scattering of heavy rare gas atoms with surfaces using a recently developed classical theory that can track particles trapped in the physisorption potential well and follow them until ultimate desorption. Comparisons are made with recent experimental data for xenon scattering from molten gallium and indium, systems for which the rare gas is heavier than the ...

Physisorption or chemisorption from dilute polymer solutions often entails irreversible polymer-surface bonding. We present a theory of the resultant nonequilibrium layers. While the density profile and loop distribution are the same as for equilibrium layers, the final layer comprises a tightly bound inner part plus an outer part whose chains make only fN surface contacts where N is chain leng...

We report on an element-dependent critical size for argon physisorption at 80 K on transition-metal-doped silicon clusters. Argon does not attach to elemental silicon clusters but only to surface-located transition-metal atoms. Thus physisorption provides structural information. Specifically, the minimal cluster size for the formation of endohedral singly metal-doped silicon cages has been dete...

Detailed physisorption data from experiment for the H(2) molecule on low-index Cu surfaces challenge theory. Recently, density functional theory (DFT) has been developed to account for nonlocal correlation effects, including van der Waals (dispersion) forces. We show that the functional vdW-DF2 gives a potential-energy curve, potential-well energy levels and difference in lateral corrugation pr...