Density functional study of the adsorption of K on the Cu(111) surface

Abstract

The adsorption of potassium on the Cu(111) surface in a 2x2 pattern has been simulated with all-electron full-potential density functional calculations. The top site is found to be the preferred adsorption site, with the other highly symmetric adsorption sites being nearly degenerate. The bond length from potassium to the nearest copper atom is computed to be 2.83 Angstrom. Population analysis and density of states indicate that there is no evidence for covalent bonding so that the binding mechanism appears to be a metallic bond.