Nanoscale pattern formation during electrodeposition: Ru on reconstructed au(111)

Abstract

Scanning tunneling microscopy results on Ru electrodeposition on reconstructed Au(111) are presented, which show a novel type of site-selective nucleation on this surface. At potentials around 0.0 V vs the Ag/AgCl reference electrode, nucleation of Ru monolayer islands proceeds almost exclusively in the fcc regions of the reconstructed surface rather than at the elbow sites as commonly found for metal/Au(111) systems. These results provide a link between nucleation on two-dimensional and uniaxial dislocation networks. The nucleation behavior allows the formation of well-defined nm-scale admetal structures which replicate the reconstruction pattern.