Critical behavior in an atomistic model for a bistable surface reaction: CO oxidation with rapid CO diffusion

Critical behavior associated with the loss of bistability for an atomistic model for CO oxidation on surfaces in the limit of infinite diffusion of CO, was analyzed. A \u27hybrid\u27 treatment which incorporated a lattice-gas description of the O adlayer, and tracked just the number of adsorbed CO, was used. The study elucidated fluctuation effects observed in experiments of CO oxidation on the nanoscale facets of metal-field emitter tips