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Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 056101 (2009) [4 pages]

Surface Geometry of C60 on Ag(111)

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H. I. Li1, K. Pussi2, K. J. Hanna1, L.-L. Wang3, D. D. Johnson3, H.-P. Cheng4, H. Shin1, S. Curtarolo5, W. Moritz6, J. A. Smerdon7, R. McGrath7, and R. D. Diehl1
1Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
2Department of Mathematics and Physics, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland
3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
4Quantum Theory Project and Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
5Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
6Department of Earth & Environmental Science, University of Munich, D-80333 Munich, Germany
7Surface Science Research Centre, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX, United Kingdom

Received 16 April 2009; published 27 July 2009

See accompanying Physics Viewpoint

The geometry of adsorbed C60 influences its collective properties. We report the first dynamical low-energy electron diffraction study to determine the geometry of a C60 monolayer, Ag(111)-(2√3×2√3)30°-C60, and related density functional theory calculations. The stable monolayer has C60 molecules in vacancies that result from the displacement of surface atoms. C60 bonds with hexagons down, with their mirror planes parallel to that of the substrate. The results indicate that vacancy structures are the rule rather than the exception for C60 monolayers on close-packed metal surfaces.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.056101
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.056101
PACS:
68.43.Fg, 61.05.jh, 61.48.−c, 68.35.bp
 
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