Counting electrons transferred through a thin alumina film into Au chains.
Low-temperature STM measurements combined with density functional theory calculations are employed to study the adsorption of gold on alumina/NiAl(110). The binding of Au monomers involves breaking of an oxide Al-O bond below the adatom and stabilizing the hence undercoordinated O ion by forming a new bond to an Al atom in the NiAl. The adsorption implies negative charging of the adatom. The linear arrangement of favorable binding sites induces the self-organization of Au atoms into chains. For every ad-chain, the number of transfer electrons from the support is determined by analyzing the node structure of the corresponding highest occupied molecular orbital.
Nilius
N
N
Fritz-Haber-Institut der MPG, Faradayweg 4-6, Berlin, Germany. nilius@fhi-berlin.mpg.de
Ganduglia-Pirovano
M V
MV
Brázdová
V
V
Kulawik
M
M
Sauer
J
J
Freund
H-J
HJ