Ar adsorptions on Al (111) and Ir (111) surfaces: a first-principles study
Niu Wen-Xia(牛纹霞)a) and Zhang Hong(张红)b)†
a. Institution of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China;
b. College of Physical Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Abstract We investigate the adsorptions of Ar on Al (111) and Ir (111) surfaces at the four high symmetry sites, i.e., top, bridge, fcc- and hcp-hollow sites at the coverage of 0.25 monolayer (ML) using the density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation of Perdew, Burke and Ernzerhof functions. The geometric structures, the binding energies, the electronic properties of argon atoms adsorbed on Al (111) and Ir (111) surfaces, the difference in electron density between on the Al (111) surface and on the Ir (111) surface and the total density of states are calculated. Our studies indicate that the most stable adsorption site of Ar on the Al (111) surface is found to be the fcc-hollow site for the (2$\times$2) structure. The corresponding binding energy of an argon atom at this site is 0.538 eV/Ar atom at a coverage of 0.25 ML. For the Ar adsorption on Ir (111) surface at the same coverage, the most favourable site is the hcp-hollow site, with a corresponding binding energy of 0.493 eV. The total density of states (TDOS) is analysed for Ar adsorption on Al (111) surface and it is concluded that the adsorption behaviour is dominated by the interaction between 3s, 3p orbits of Ar atom and the 3p orbit of the base Al metal and the formation of sp hybrid orbital. For Ar adsorption on Ir (111) surface, the conclusion is that the main interaction in the process of Ar adsorption on Ir (111) surface comes from the 3s and 3p orbits of argon atom and 5d orbit of Ir atom.
Received: 01 June 2011
Revised: 13 July 2011
Accepted manuscript online:
PACS:
68.43.-h
(Chemisorption/physisorption: adsorbates on surfaces)
Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11074176 and 10976019) and the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20100181110080).
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