PHYSICAL REVIEW. B, CONDENSED MATTER AND MATERIALS PHYSICS
Abstract
The thermal stability of the (1×2) missing-row phase of Rh(110), whose first layer is an ordered array of one-dimensional atomic chains, is investigated using high-resolution core-level spectroscopy and density functional calculations. The time evolution of the spectra indicates that this phase is metastable towards deconstruction into a (1×1) phase. Our calculations unveil the mechanism of this process, which is shown to be ignited by surface defects, and provide a value for the activation energy in good agreement with experimental findings.
