CO on MgO: a case study
G.Pacchioni, University of Milan, Italie
Lundi 23 septembre 2002, 11h00
More than 20 years of experimental and theoretical work on the interaction of carbon
monoxide, CO, with the surface of MgO(100) are reviewed. This seemingly simple bonding has
represented a challenge for both theory and experiment. The interplay between experiments
performed on MgO single crystals, powders, and thin films and cluster model or periodic
calculations has been crucial to elucidate the real nature of the interaction but also to
clarify some key issues like for instance the morphology of the surface and its level of
defectivity. The analysis of more than 40 papers on this subject shows how dangerous the
uncritical comparison of theory with experiment can be, and allows also some general
considerations on the way science sometimes proceeds in present days.