engleski

The initial stages of the hydrogen-induced reconstruction of Pd(110) studied with STM

The hydrogen-induced reconstruction of the Pd(110) surface was investigated in situ with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Focusing on the initial stages of the restructuring, which ultimately leads to a stable (1x2) reconstructed surface, we find an exponential increase of the reconstructed surface area with hydrogen exposure, up to 8 Langmuir, which can be explained by an autocatalytic behavior. Moreover, the steps, especially those running along the [001] direction, play a distinctive role in the buildup of the (1x2) reconstruction.

Scanning tunneling microscopy; Surface relaxation and reconstruction; Palladium; Hydrogen

Proceedings of the 23th European Conference on Surface Science ; Berlin, Germany: 4&#8211 ; ; 9 September 2005