Surface order-disorder phase transitions and percolation

Abstract

In the present paper, the connection between surface order-disorder phase transitions and the percolating properties of the adsorbed phase has been studied. For this purpose, four lattice-gas models in presence of repulsive interactions have been considered. Namely, monomers on honeycomb, square and triangular lattices, and dimers (particles occupying two adjacent adsorption sites) on square substrates. By using Monte Carlo simulation and finite-size scaling analysis, we obtain the percolation threshold $\theta_c$ of the adlayer, which presents an interesting dependence with $w/k_BT$ (being $w$, $k_B$ and $T$, the lateral interaction energy, the Boltzmann's constant and temperature, respectively). For each geometry and adsorbate size, a phase diagram separating a percolating and a non-percolating region is determined.