The accessibility of the atoms of metal in metallic catalysts, supported or unsupported, depends upon the percentage of the total atoms of metal which are surface atoms. It is recommended that the term percentage exposed be employed for this quantity rather than the term dispersion which has been frequently employed.
Source:
PAC, 1976, 46, 71. 'Manual of Symbols and Terminology for Physicochemical Quantities and Units - Appendix II. Definitions, Terminology and Symbols in Colloid and Surface Chemistry. Part II: Heterogeneous Catalysis' on page 80 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197646010071)