First-principles study of the contractive reconstruction of gold and silver monolayers on gold, silver and aluminum

Abstract

Using first-principles calculations in conjunction with modeling techniques, the author has investigated the structures of Au and Ag monolayers on a number of metal surfaces. Au(100) has a c(26 {times} 68) surface unit cell and the reconstruction has been interpreted as the top layer transforming to a contracted hexagonal-close-packed layer, superimposed on the square lattice of the underlying substrate atoms. Similar reconstructions have been observed on the 5d fcc metals Ir and Pt, but not in the 4d Rh, Pd, and Ag. The author studied the energetics of a monolayer of Au and Ag using first-principles calculations. The author found that it is energetically favorable for both Au and Ag to transform from a square to hexagonal arrangement and to contract to a higher surface density, but Au gains substantially more energy than Ag. This is true both for a monolayer in isolation as well as on top of a jellium surface. The author also calculated the mismatch energy (energy loss when the top layer loses registry with the substrate) for Au and Ag, and found that Ag has a slightly higher mismatch energy. The first-principles results thus offer a strong indication that Au(100) can reconstruct but Ag will not. The reconstruction is further studied with a 2 dimensional Frenkel-Kontorowa model, with parameters extracted from the total energy calculations. The author found that it is indeed energetically favorable for the top layer of Au(100), but not for Ag, to transform to a hexagonal-close-packed structure and contract. 85 refs., 34 figs., 8 tabs.