TY - JOUR

T1 - A new approach for synthesis of epitaxial nano-thin Pt5Gd alloy via intercalation underneath a graphene

AU - Rybkin, Artem G.

AU - Rybkina, Anna A.

AU - Tarasov, Artem V.

AU - Pudikov, Dmitrii A.

AU - Klimovskikh, Ilya I.

AU - Vilkov, Oleg Yu.

AU - Petukhov, Anatoly E.

AU - Usachov, Dmitry Yu.

AU - Estyunin, Dmitrii A.

AU - Voroshnin, Vladimir Yu.

AU - Varykhalov, Andrei

AU - Di Santo, Giovanni

AU - Petaccia, Luca

AU - Schwier, Eike

AU - Shimada, Kenya

AU - Kimura, Akio

AU - Shikin, Alexander M.

N1 - Funding Information: A.G.R., A.A.R., I.I.K., D.A.E. and A.M.S. acknowledge St. Petersburg State University (SPbU) for Research Grant No. 51126254. This work was supported by Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 18-12-00062 (in the part of synthesis, ARPES and STM measurements, analysis of experimental data), RFBR project No. 20–32-70127 (in the part of XPS measurements, alloy thickness and ab initio calculations) and the Russian German Laboratory at BESSY II. I.I.K. thanks Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 18-72-00073 (in the part of sample preparation and initial characterization). We thank Hiroshima Synchrotron Radiation Center (proposal No. 16AG049), Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie for the allocation of synchrotron radiation beamtimes and N-BARD, Hiroshima University for supplying liquid helium. We thank Valerii Zolotarev for providing the opportunity to perform the calculations using the WIEN2k code, and Andrea Goldoni and Luca Floreano for the OSMOS CNR-Elettra joint Laboratory for Microscopy at Elettra.

PY - 2020/10/1

Y1 - 2020/10/1

N2 - In the present study we synthesized nano-thin epitaxial Pt xGd alloys on Pt(111) single crystal surface covered with well-oriented graphene and investigated their electronic and atomic structure at different stages of synthesis. Low-energy electron diffraction, photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy data suggest that deposition of Gd on the graphene/Pt(111) system and its further intercalation at 1080 °C lead to formation of nano-thin Pt 5Gd alloy covered with a quasi-freestanding graphene. We demonstrate that atomically flat alloy surface is terminated by Pt atomic layer with “kagome” structure. Control of graphene doping through variation of the alloy stoichiometry may open up new opportunities in developing advanced electronics. Owing to a well-known catalytic activity of Pt 5Gd alloy, our thin-film system is promising for low-cost production of catalysts in the near future.

AB - In the present study we synthesized nano-thin epitaxial Pt xGd alloys on Pt(111) single crystal surface covered with well-oriented graphene and investigated their electronic and atomic structure at different stages of synthesis. Low-energy electron diffraction, photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy data suggest that deposition of Gd on the graphene/Pt(111) system and its further intercalation at 1080 °C lead to formation of nano-thin Pt 5Gd alloy covered with a quasi-freestanding graphene. We demonstrate that atomically flat alloy surface is terminated by Pt atomic layer with “kagome” structure. Control of graphene doping through variation of the alloy stoichiometry may open up new opportunities in developing advanced electronics. Owing to a well-known catalytic activity of Pt 5Gd alloy, our thin-film system is promising for low-cost production of catalysts in the near future.

KW - 2D catalyst

KW - Ab initio calculations

KW - Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

KW - Electronics

KW - Epitaxial alloy

KW - Graphene

KW - Scanning tunneling microscopy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085657343&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.146687

DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.146687

M3 - Article

VL - 526

SP - 146687

JO - Applied Surface Science

JF - Applied Surface Science

SN - 0169-4332

M1 - 146687

ER -