Elastic Analysis of Physisorption-Induced Substrate Deformation

Physisorption may cause a dimple on a deformable solid surface due to adsorbate--substrate interaction. The interactive force between the adsorbate and the crystal atoms depends on their distances, which may change with substrate deformation. This feature of displacement-dependence indicates that the equilibrium problem is a force-deformation coupled nonlinear procedure. In the present study, a continuum mechanics model, in which the force is considered as a function of the displacement field of the medium, is presented to calculate the physisorption-induced deformation in a
semi-infinite elastic medium. It is found that the nonlinear effect due to force-deformation coupling should be taken in consideration in the adsorbate--substrate interaction analysis.