LCAO studies of hydrogen chemisorption on nickel: I. Tight-binding calculations for adsorption on periodic surfaces

The model we have used to study hydrogen chemisorption on nickel surfaces is a tightbinding Extended Hückel method applied to finite (periodic) crystals up to about 250 atoms, the non-orthogonal basis set comprising five 3d orbitals, one 4s orbital and three 4p orbitals per atom. After calculating the band structure of fcc nickel, we have examined, by this model, the effect of the (100), (110) and (111) surfaces on the local density of states and the charge distribution. The results agree closely with moment calculations of the density of states in semi-infinite crystals and with experimental (XPS, UPS and INS) spectra. Extensive studies have been made of the influence of adsorption on the (partial) densities of states in order to illuminate the nature of the chemisorption bond. Particularly, we have concluded that both the 3d electrons and the conduction electrons take part in this bond. Equilibrium positions for adsorption on various sites have been determined and the adsorption energy has been computed and compared with experimental data. We find that the stability of adsorption decreases in the order (110) > (100) > (111) and Atop > Bridge > Centred.