Atomic Undercoordination in Ag Islands on Ru(0001) Grown via Size-Selected Cluster Deposition: An Experimental and Theoretical High-Resolution Core-Level Photoemission Study

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C 2021-05, Vol.125 (17), p.9556-9563
• Main Authors: Sbuelz, Luca, Loi, Federico, Pozzo, Monica, Bignardi, Luca, Nicolini, Eugenio, Lacovig, Paolo, Tosi, Ezequiel, Lizzit, Silvano, Kartouzian, Aras, Heiz, Ueli, Alfé, Dario, Baraldi, Alessandro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: C: Physical Properties of Materials and Interfaces
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c02327

The possibility of depositing precisely mass-selected Ag clusters (Ag1, Ag3, and Ag7) on Ru(0001) was instrumental in determining the importance of the in-plane coordination number (CN) and allowed us to establish a linear dependence of the Ag 3d5/2 core-level shift on CN. The fast cluster surface diffusion at room temperature, caused by the low interaction between silver and ruthenium, leads to the formation of islands with a low degree of ordering, as evidenced by the high density of low-coordinated atomic configurations, in particular CN = 4 and 5. On the contrary, islands formed upon Ag7 deposition show a higher density of atoms with CN = 6, thus indicating the formation of islands with a close-packed atomic arrangement. This combined experimental and theoretical approach, when applied to clusters of different elements, offers the perspective to reveal nonequivalent local configurations in two-dimensional (2D) materials grown using different building blocks, with potential implications in understanding electronic and reactivity properties at the atomic level.