Effect of vibrational energy on the dissociative chemisorption of N2 on Fe(111)

Molecular beam techniques have been employed to determine the effect of vibrational energy on the dissociative chemisorption of N2 on Fe(111). We find that for kinetic energies in the range 0.3 to 0.6 eV that vibrational energy is an average only about half as effective as translational energy. Results are discussed in terms of a precursor mechanism, where access to the precursor state is blocked by a potential barrier that is more easily overcome with translational than with vibrational energy.