Geometrical indications of adsorbed hydrogen atoms on graphite producing starlike and ellipsoidal features in scanning tunneling microscopy images

Abstract

Recent scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STM) experiments display images with star and ellipsoidal like features resulting from unique geometrical arrangements of a few adsorbed hydrogen atoms on graphite. Based on first-principles STM simulations, we propose a new model with three hydrogen atoms adsorbed on the graphene sheet in the shape of an equilateral triangle with a hexagon ring surrounded inside. The model reproduces the experimentally observed starlike STM patterns. Additionally, we confirm that an ortho-hydrogen pair is the configuration corresponding to the ellipsoidal images. These calculations reveal that when the hydrogen pairs are in the same orientation, they are energetically more stable.