MONTE-CARLO STUDIES OF THE ORIGINS OF THE COMPENSATION EFFECT IN A CATALYTIC REACTION

The compensation effect has been an engima to surface scientists since the beginning of the century. In this study, the origins of compensatory behavior in a model steady-state Langmuir-Hinshelwood reaction were clarified with Monte Carlo simulations. The compensation effect in this model system and analogous physical systems can be understood in terms of the temperature and coverage dependence of a distribution of activation energies for surface reaction (arising when adsorbate interactions are extant among reactants in the system) which must balance a narrow distribution of adsorption rates at steady state.