Quantum confinement induced oscillatory electric field on a stepped Pb(111) film and its influence on surface reactivity

Abstract

When the thickness of ultrathin metal films approaches the nanometer scale comparable to the coherence length of the electrons, significant effects on the structure stability and the electronic properties of the metal films emerge due to electron confinement and quantization of the allowed electronic states in the direction perpendicular to the film. Using first-principles calculations, we showed that such quantum size effects can induce oscillatory electrostatic potential and thus alternating electric field on the surface of the wedge-shaped Pb(111) films. The alternating electric field has significant influence on surface reactivity, leading to selective even- or odd-layer adsorption preference depending on the charge state of the adatoms, consistent with the odd-layer preference of higher Mg coverage on wedge-shaped Pb(111) films, as observed in experiment.