Dissipation of the excess energy of the adsorbate- thermalization via electron transfer

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel thermalization mechanism for adsorbates on solid surfaces involving electron tunneling and electric dipole layers, which prevents local melting and aligns with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a new thermalization scenario based on electron transfer and electric dipole layers, supported by ab initio calculations and theoretical modeling.

Findings

Electron tunneling conveys excess energy into the solid interior.

Positive ions are retarded, allowing smooth energy dissipation.

The scenario aligns with experimental observations avoiding surface melting.

Abstract

A new scenario of thermalization process of the adsorbate attached at solid surfaces is proposed. The scenario is based on existence of electric dipole layer in which the electron wavefunctions extend over the positive ions. Thus the strong local electric field exists which drags electron into the solids and repels the positive ions. The electrons are tunneling conveying the energy into the solid interior. The positive ions are retarded in the field, which allows them to loose excess kinetic energy and to be located smoothly into the adsorption sites. In this way the excess energy is not dissipated locally avoiding melting or creation of defects, in accordance with the experiments. The scenario is supported by the ab intio calculation results including density function theory of the slabs representing AlN surface and the Schrodinger equation for time evolution of hydrogen-like atom at the solid surface.