title: Nanoclusters and nanolines: the effect of molybdenum oxide substrate stoichiometry on iron self-assembly.
abstract: The growth of Fe nanostructures on the stoichiometric MoO2/Mo(110) and oxygen-rich MoO2+x/Mo(110) surfaces has been studied using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory calculations. STM results indicate that at low coverage Fe nucleates on the MoO2/Mo(110) surface, forming small, well-ordered nanoclusters of uniform size, each consisting of five Fe atoms. These five-atom clusters can agglomerate into larger nanostructures reflecting the substrate geometry, but they retain their individual character within the structure. Linear Fe nanocluster arrays are formed on the MoO2/Mo(110) surface at room temperature when the surface coverage is greater than 0.6 monolayers. These nanocluster arrays follow the direction of the oxide rows of the strained MoO2/Mo(110) surface. Slightly altering the preparation procedure of MoO2/Mo(110) leads to the presence of oxygen adatoms on this surface. Fe deposition onto the oxygen-rich MoO2+x/Mo(110) surface results in elongated nanostructures that reach up to 24 nm in length. These nanolines have a zigzag shape and are likely composed of partially oxidised Fe formed upon reaction with the oxygen-rich surface.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lübben
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Krasnikov
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walls
authors.forename: N N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Sergeeva
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Chaika
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Bozhko
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Shvets