Characterization of Different Surfaces Morphology in Heterogeneous Catalyst

Structures and property of surfaces are very important in different chemical, physical and biological processes. In the case of heterogeneous catalysis, reaction takes place at the surface of the active metal crystals (Pt, Rh, Ni etc) supported primarily on metal oxides. The interaction between the reactant molecules (adsorbate) and the surface are important in the performance of the catalyst. Surface has defects in terms of vacancies, dislocations and grain boundaries. The property of the surface depends on its crystal lattice structures and defects on them. This surface property influences the structure of the adsorbate on the surface. A first principle density functional theoretical (DFT) calculation is generally used to find the activation energy of different surface reaction on different catalysts [1]. In this paper we have simulated the energy of Ni (111) surface with and without defects. A fractal dimension of the crystal surface is found using wavelet transformation.