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Self-assembly; monolayers; gold; spinodal decomposition; scanning tunnelling microscopy; adsorbed layers; discontinuous metallic thin films; electrochemistry Phase-separation; Au(111); simulation; adsorption; evolution; system; growth
Abstract:
The structure formation upon spinodal decomposition of a two-dimensional model system, a Au adatom gas on a Au(111) surface, was observed in situ by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). A thermodynamically unstable state was prepared by applying microsecond voltage pulses to the STM tip in an electrochemical system, causing the random dissolution of Au atoms from the uppermost monolayer. Interconnected, labyrinthine island patterns were formed at Au coverages between 0.4 and 0.9 monolayer with dominating length scales lambda(m) of the order of a few nanometers.
