Planar vanadium oxide clusters: two-dimensional evaporation and diffusion on Rh(111).
The formation of novel vanadium oxide cluster molecules by oxidative two-dimensional evaporation from vanadium oxide nanostructures is reported on a Rh(111) metal surface. The structure and stability of the planar V6O12 clusters and the physical origin of their 2D evaporation process have been elucidated by high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and ab initio density functional theory calculations. The surface diffusion of the clusters has been followed in elevated-temperature STM experiments, and the diffusion parameters have been extracted, indicating diffusion by hopping of the entire surface stabilized cluster units.
Schoiswohl
J
J
Institut für Experimentalphysik, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
Kresse
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G
Surnev
S
S
Sock
M
M
Ramsey
M G
MG
Netzer
F P
FP