The effect of adsorbate-induced surface reconstruction on the apparent pre-exponential factor and activation energy for desorption was analyzed and discussed. The reconstruction was assumed to be a continuous displacive phase transition caused by a Fermi surface instability. The adsorbate-induced changes in the surface were shown to result in a rather strong (of the order of 102) coverage dependence of the pre-exponential factor for desorption. The direction of the variation was in accordance with the compensation effect (the pre-exponential factor and activation energy decrease with increasing coverage.

Effect of Surface Reconstruction on the Apparent Arrhenius Parameters for Desorption. B.Hellsing, V.P.Zhdanov: Chemical Physics Letters, 1990, 168[6], 584-8. See also: V.P.Zhdanov: Progress in Surface Science, 1990, 35[1-4], 143-57