Publication in "Physical Review Letters"

  • Date: 2013

Atomic Structure and Crystalline Order of Graphene-Supported Ir Nanoparticle Lattices
Autoren: D. Franz, S. Runte, C. Busse, S. Schumacher, T. Gerber, T. Michely, M. Mantilla, V. Kilic, J. Zegenhagen and A. Stierle

Structural model
The authors present the atomic structure of Ir nanoparticles with a 1.5 nm diameter and three layers average
height grown on graphene/Ir(111). Using surface x-ray diffraction, they demonstrate that Ir nanoparticles
on graphene/Ir(111) form a crystallographic superlattice with high perfection. The superlattice arrangement
allows them to obtain detailed information on the atomic structure of the nanoparticles themselves,
such as size, shape, internal layer stacking and strain. Their experiments disclose that the nanoparticles
reside epitaxially on top of the graphene moire´ structure on Ir(111), resulting in significant lateral
compressive intraparticle strain. Normal incidence x-ray standing wave experiments deliver additional
information on the particle formation induced restructuring of the graphene layer.


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