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Merino P, Rosławska A, Grewal A, Leon CC, Gonzalez C, Kuhnke K, Kern K. Gold Chain Formation via Local Lifting of Surface Reconstruction by Hot Electron Injection on H 2(D 2)/Au(111). ACS Nano 2020; 14:15241-15247. [PMID: 33119271 PMCID: PMC7610521 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c05507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The hexagonal close packed surface of gold shows a 22 × 3 "herringbone" surface reconstruction which makes it unique among the (111) surfaces of all metals. This long-range energetically favored dislocation pattern appears in response to the strong tensile stress that would be present on the unreconstructed surface. Adsorption of molecular and atomic species can be used to tune this surface stress and lift the herringbone reconstruction. Here we show that herringbone reconstruction can be controllably lifted in ultrahigh vacuum at cryogenic temperatures by precise hot electron injection in the presence of hydrogen molecules. We use the sharp tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) for charge carrier injection and characterization of the resulting chain nanostructures. By comparing STM images, rotational spectromicroscopy and ab initio calculations, we show that formation of gold atomic chains is associated with release of gold atoms from the surface, lifting of the reconstruction, dissociation of H2 molecules, and formation of surface hydrides. Gold hydrides grow in a zipper-like mechanism forming chains along the [11̅0] directions of the Au(111) surface and can be manipulated by further electron injection. Finally, we demonstrate that Au(111) terraces can be transformed with nearly perfect terrace selectivity over distances of hundreds of nanometers.
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Affiliation(s)
- P. Merino
- Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, D70569, Stuttgart, Germany
- Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, CSIC, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, E28049, Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Física Fundamental, CSIC, Serrano 121, E28006, Madrid, Spain
| | - A. Rosławska
- Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, D70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - A. Grewal
- Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, D70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - C. C. Leon
- Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, D70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - C. Gonzalez
- Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E28049 Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Física de Materiales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Magnetismo Aplicado UCM-ADIF, Vía de Servicio A-6, 900, E-28232 Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain
| | - K. Kuhnke
- Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, D70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - K. Kern
- Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, D70569, Stuttgart, Germany
- Institut de Physique, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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