Two-dimensional oxide on Pd(111)

E. Lundgren1, G. Kresse2, C. Klein3, M. Borg1, J.N. Andersen1, M. De Santis4, Y. Gauthier4, C. Konvicka3, M. Schmid3 and P.Varga3

1 Department of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Institute of Physics, Lund University, S-22100 Lund, Sweden
2 Institut f. Materialphysik and Centre for Computational Materials Science, Universität Wien, A-1090 Wien, Austria
3 Institut für Allgemeine Physik, Technische Universität Wien, A-1040 Wien, Austria
4 Laboratoire de Cristallographie, CNRS, BP 166 X, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 09, France

Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 (2002) 246103

The oxidation of Pd(111) leads to an incommensurate surface oxide, which was studied by the use of scanning tunneling microscopy, surface x-ray diffraction, high resolution core level spectroscopy and density functional calculations. A combination of these methods reveals a two-dimensional structure having no resemblance to bulk oxides of Pd. Our study also demonstrates how the atomic arrangement of a non-trivial incommensurate surface can be solved by molecular dynamics in a case where experimental techniques alone give no solution.

Corresponding author: E. Lundgren. Reprints also available from M. Schmid (schmid< encoded email address >).

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