title: Self-assembly of acetate adsorbates drives atomic rearrangement on the Au(110) surface.
abstract: Weak inter-adsorbate interactions are shown to play a crucial role in determining surface structure, with major implications for its catalytic reactivity. This is exemplified here in the case of acetate bound to Au(110), where the small extra energy of the van der Waals interactions among the surface-bound groups drives massive restructuring of the underlying Au. Acetate is a key intermediate in electro-oxidation of CO2and a poison in partial oxidation reactions. Metal atom migration originates at surface defects and is likely facilitated by weakened Au-Au interactions due to bonding with the acetate. Even though the acetate is a relatively small molecule, weak intermolecular interaction provides the energy required for molecular self-assembly and reorganization of the metal surface.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Fanny
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5274-0874
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hiebel
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Bonggeun
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5782-6300
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shong
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials (ICQD), Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, and Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Madix
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Efthimios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kaxiras
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|School of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Friend