The breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation is an important topic in chemical dynamics on metal surfaces. In this context, the most frequently used work horse is electronic friction theory, commonly relying on friction coefficients obtained from density-functional theory calculations from the early '80s based on the atom-in-jellium model. However, results are only available for a limited set of jellium densities and elements ($Z=1-18$). In this paper, these calculations are revisited by investigating the corresponding friction coefficients for the entire periodic table ($Z=1-92$). Furthermore, friction coefficients obtained by including the electron density gradient on the generalized gradient approximation level are presented. Finally, we show that spin polarization and relativistic effects can have sizable effects on these friction coefficients for some elements.

• Received 11 March 2020
• Accepted 18 September 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.155130

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society