Modified herringbone reconstruction on Au(1 1 1) induced by self-assembled Azure A islands

Abstract

Upon submonolayer deposition of Azure A molecules onto reconstructed Au(1 1 1), two-dimensional quasi-rectangular islands are observed by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Strikingly, the 22 × √3 reconstruction with alternating hexagonal close packed (hcp) and face centered cubic (fcc) domains of the native Au(1 1 1) surface layer is found to be strongly modified underneath the self-assembled islands of Azure A molecules. The bridge–hcp–bridge–fcc–bridge period of 63 Å on clean Au(1 1 1) is expanded by about 12% and occasionally reaches even 22%. This increase of the unreconstructed fcc areas underneath the molecular islands reflects a partial lifting of the reconstruction caused by the interaction between the adsorbed molecules and the outermost Au atoms at the molecule–metal interface.