Campus Units

Physics and Astronomy, Ames Laboratory

Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Published Version

Publication Date

10-2015

Journal or Book Title

Journal of Chemical Physics

Volume

143

Issue

16

First Page

164706-1

Last Page

164706-10

DOI

10.1063/1.4934349

Abstract

Large-scale first-principles density functional theory calculations are performed to investigate the adsorption and diffusion of Ru adatoms on monolayer graphene (G) supported on Ru(0001). The G sheet exhibits a periodic moiré-cell superstructure due to lattice mismatch. Within a moirécell, there are three distinct regions: fcc, hcp, and mound, in which the C6-ring center is above a fcc site, a hcp site, and a surface Ru atom of Ru(0001), respectively. The adsorption energy of a Ru adatom is evaluated at specific sites in these distinct regions. We find the strongest binding at an adsorption site above a C atom in the fcc region, next strongest in the hcp region, then the fcc-hcp boundary (ridge) between these regions, and the weakest binding in the mound region. Behavior is similar to that observed from small-unit-cell calculations of Habenicht et al. [Top. Catal. 57, 69 (2014)], which differ from previous large-scale calculations. We determine the minimum-energy path for local diffusion near the center of the fcc region and obtain a localdiffusion barrier of ∼0.48 eV. We also estimate a significantly lower local diffusion barrier in the ridge region. These barriers and information on the adsorption energy variation facilitate development of a realistic model for the global potential energy surface for Ru adatoms. This in turn enables simulation studies elucidating diffusion-mediated directed-assembly of Ru nanoclusters during deposition of Ru on G/Ru(0001).

Comments

The following article appeared in Journal of Chemical Physics 143, 16 (2015): 164706 and may be found at doi: 10.1063/1.4934349.

Rights

Copyright 2015 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.

Copyright Owner

American Institute of Physics

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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