Microscopic Approaches to Kinetics of Nonequilibrium Processes: Diffusion-Limited Reactions and Heterogeneous Catalysis

Daniel Ben-Avraham得到了理论和计算化学计划以及材料理论计划的资助，以研究扩散限制反应和多相催化。这项研究将有助于阐明多相催化的机理，多相催化在包括燃料、塑料和其他合成材料在内的各种化学品的制造中具有重要的作用。Ben-Avraham博士将对非平衡过程的动力学进行详细的理论和数值研究，即扩散限制反应和多相催化。扩散限制反应是多相催化中的速度决定步骤，也是其他几个重要过程中的决定步骤，如半导体中的载体-空穴复合以及胶体和气溶胶的形成。Ben-Avraham博士将进行的理论研究将侧重于微观尺度上的非均质性的动力学效应，而不是传统的现象学方法，该方法依赖于以系统平均为变量的速率方程。这一研究结果将对非平衡动力学和多相催化剂有更好的理论理解。

Daniel Ben-Avraham is supported by a grant from the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program and the Materials Theory Program to study diffusion-limited reactions and heterogeneous catalysis. This research will help to elucidate the mechanism of heterogeneous catalysis which is important in the manufacture of a variety of chemicals including fuels, plastics and other synthetic materials. Dr. Ben-Avraham will conduct a detailed theoretical and numerical study of the kinetics of nonequilibrium processes, namely, diffusion-limited reactions and heterogeneous catalysis. Diffusion-limited reactions are the rate-determining step in heterogeneous catalysis, as well as in several other important processes such as carrier-hole recombination in semiconductors, and the formation of colloids and aerosols. The theoretical research to be performed by Dr. Ben-Avraham will focus on the kinetic effects of inhomogeneities on a microscopic scale as opposed to the traditional phenomonological approach which relies on rate equations that use system averages as variables. The results of this research will yield a better theoretical understanding of nonequilibrium kinetics and heterogeneous catalysts.