Inelastic scattering of hydrogen atoms off pristine and hydrogen-covered W(100) surfaces

Recent experiments have shown that translational energy loss is mainly mediated by electron–hole pair excitations for hydrogen atoms impinging on clean metallic surfaces. Inspired by these studies, quasi-classical trajectory simulations are here performed to investigate the energy transfer after scattering of hydrogen atoms off clean and hydrogen-covered tungsten (100) surfaces. The present theoretical approach examines the coverage effect of the preadsorbed hydrogen atoms, as was done recently for the (110) crystallographic plane in (J Phys Chem C 125:14075, 2021). As suggested, scattering can be described in terms of three different dynamical mechanisms, the contribution of which changes with coverage, which allow to rationalize the shape of the energy loss spectra.