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Metastable precursors during the oxidation of the Ru(0001) surface

Karsten Reuter, M. Veronica Ganduglia-Pirovano, Catherine Stampfl, Matthias Scheffler

cond-mat.mtrl-sciarXiv:cond-mat/0109491

Abstract

Using density-functional theory, we predict that the oxidation of the Ru(0001) surface proceeds via the accumulation of sub-surface oxygen in two-dimensional islands between the first and second substrate layer. This leads locally to a decoupling of an O-Ru-O trilayer from the underlying metal. Continued oxidation results in the formation and stacking of more of these trilayers, which unfold into the RuO2(110) rutile structure once a critical film thickness is exceeded. Along this oxidation pathway, we identify various metastable configurations. These are found to be rather close in energy, indicating a likely lively dynamics between them at elevated temperatures, which will affect the surface chemical and mechanical properties of the material.

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