Dynamics of the interaction of O2 with silver surfaces

Molecular beam studies involving the interaction of (hyper-)thermal O₂ with Ag(111) and Ag(110) are reported. Several different scattering paths are observed: physisorption followed by desorption, direct inelastic scattering from both the physisorption and the chemisorption potential, transient trapping desorption, molecular chemisorption and dissociative chemisorption. The underlying dynamics of all of these processes is reviewed.