Cooperation and competition between magnetism and chemisorption

TL;DR

This paper explores how magnetism influences chemisorption on surfaces, proposing models that relate magnetic moments to adsorption energy and examining conditions for magnetism emergence due to chemisorption.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework linking surface magnetism and chemisorption, including a new scaling relationship and a modified Stoner criterion for non-magnetic surfaces.

Findings

Adsorption energy correlates with surface magnetic moments.

Chemisorption can induce magnetism on non-magnetic surfaces.

Magnetic moments are affected by adsorption processes.

Abstract

Chemisorption on ferromagnetic and non-magnetic surfaces is discussed within the Newns-Anderson-Grimley model along with the Stoner model of ferromagnetism. In the case of ferromagnetic surfaces, the adsorption energy is formulated in terms of the change in surface magnetic moments. Using such a formulation, we address the issue of how an adsorbate's binding strength depends on the magnetic moments of the surface and how the adsorption process reduces/enhances the magnetic moments of the surface. Our results indicates a possible adsorption energy scaling relationship in terms surface magnetic moments. In the case of non-magnetic surfaces, we formulate a modified stoner criterion and discuss the condition for the appearance of magnetism due to chemisorption on an otherwise non-magnetic surface.