Energies of metal adatoms and nanoparticles on well-defined surfaces

COLL 467

Charles T. Campbell, Chemistry Department, Chemistry Department, University of Washington, Box 351700, Seattle, WA 98195-1700
Heats of adsorption of metal atoms have been measured calorimetrically on Mo(100), Si(100), MgO(100). A pulse of metal vapor from a chopped atomic beam adsorbs onto an ultrathin single crystal's surface, causing a transient temperature rise detected by a pyroelectric polymer ribbon touching the crystal. The differential heat of adsorption is measured versus coverage up through multilayer coverages. The data provide the metal-substrate bond energy (BE), the adhesion energy and the interfacial energy. The heats also provides evidence for island-island repulsion when 2D islands strain the lattice nearby, as with Ag on Si(100)-2x1. In cases where 3D metal nanoparticles nucleate and grow in size, the data also provide metal nanoparticle energetics versus particle size. These data show that the surface energy of metal particles <4 nm is dramatically larger than that of large particles.