Diffusion and growth of Au on metallic surfaces
Au is known to be inert.
H2 does not adsorb dissociatively on bulk-Au surfaces.
However, recent studies have shown that Au nanostructures have particular chemical reactivities.
It is reported that H2 adsorbs dissociatively on Au films grown Ir(111) [1].
Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of hydrogen dissociative adsorption on Au films.
On the other hand, our study has revealed that H2 does not adsorb dissociatively on Au films grown on Pt(111) [2].
The structures of Au on Ir(111) and Pt(111) have not been investigated yet.
In the present study, the structures of the Au islands grown on Ir(111) and Pt(111)
and their formation mechanism are investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)
and kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations by focusing on surface diffusion processes.
References
[1] M. Okada et al., Surf. Sci. 523, 218 (2003).
[2] S. Ogura et al., Surf. Sci. 566-568, 755 (2004).
