Temporal kinetic oscillations in the oxidation of carbon monoxide: a subsurface layer effect

It has been observed that the catalytic CO oxidation on a (0 0 1) surface and subsurface of a body centred cubic structure (which extends to only two layers in the z-direction) exhibits temporal kinetic oscillations under certain conditions. In order to describe such oscillations a mechanism is presented in which at high oxygen partial pressure slow formation/removal of subsurface oxygen modulates the catalytic activity of the surface. The simulated results agree with experimental observations qualitatively