Abstract: Charge transfer is a critical process that controls many important reactions such as photosynthesis, corrosion, and catalysis. We developed a quantitative method for calculating charge transfer rates using periodic density functional theory (DFT). This approach allows us to model from first principles the interaction between an adsorbate and arbitrary material surfaces. By deconvoluting the projected density of states of the ionization level of the atom, we can determine its width, which is proportional to the charge transfer rate. These rates can be used to predict important properties such as adsorbate excited state lifetimes and neutralization fractions for scattered ions. By comparing neutralization fractions for Li scattering off of Al(001) to experimental data, we validated our first principles method of predicting charge transfer rates. While our results are consistent with the classic Langmuir-Gurney (LG) model of adsorption for nearly-free-electron-like metal surfaces, we find several important deviations caused by the actual electronic structure of more complicated material surfaces. For example, we find that the d-band of transition metal surfaces mediates an intra-atomic hybridization of the Li ionization level. Secondly, we find that surface-projected band gaps (e.g., in Cu(111)) enhance the lifetimes of alkali atoms above surfaces containing such band gaps. In addition, our method allows us to also study atoms interacting with non-metallic surfaces where the LG model does not apply. For example, we find that alkali charge transfer rates are controlled by dangling bonds on covalently-bonded surfaces (e.g., Si(001)-(2xl)) instead of by the traditional image potential.