Interpretation of high-resolution images of the best-bound wetting layers on Pt(111)

Abstract

Two interpretations have been proposed of dark triangles observed in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images of the best bound, √37×√37−R25.3°, and √39×√39−R16.1° periodic water monolayers on Pt(111). In one, a “Y”-shaped tetramer of water molecules is removed, leaving a vacancy island behind; the other assumes the Y is replaced by a hexagon of H2O molecules, amounting to a di-interstitial. Consistent only with the di-interstitial model are thermal desorption and CO coadsorption data, STM line scans, and total energies obtained from density functional theory calculations.