Revisiting the structure of the p(4 x 4) surface oxide on Ag(111)

J Schnadt; A Michaelides; J Knudsen; R T Vang; K Reuter; E Laegsgaard; M Scheffler; F Besenbacher

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.146101

Revisiting the structure of the p(4 x 4) surface oxide on Ag(111)

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Apr 14;96(14):146101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.146101. Epub 2006 Apr 10.

Authors

J Schnadt¹, A Michaelides, J Knudsen, R T Vang, K Reuter, E Laegsgaard, M Scheffler, F Besenbacher

Affiliation

¹ Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

PMID: 16712097
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.146101

Abstract

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density-functional theory are used to reexamine the structure of the renowned p(4 x 4)-O/Ag(111) surface oxide. The accepted structural model [C. I. Carlisle, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 3899 (2000)10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.3899] is incompatible with the enhanced resolution of the current STM measurements. An "Ag6 model" is proposed that is more stable than its predecessor and accounts for the coexistence of the p(4 x 4) and a novel c(3 x 5log3)rect phase. This coexistence is an indication of the dynamic complexity of the system that until now has not been appreciated.