Journal
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 21, Issue 26, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/21/26/265602
Keywords
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Funding
- Lundbeck Foundation
- Villum-Kahn Rasmussen Foundation
- Carlsberg Foundation
- Danish Strategic Research Council [2106-06-0016]
- European Research Council (ERC) [239834, 227430]
- Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation
- European Community
- European Research Council (ERC) [227430] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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We demonstrate that the characteristic root 31 x root 31 R9 degrees reconstructed surface of a-alumina (Al2O3) acts as a nanotemplate for the growth of well-ordered monodisperse arrays of Ni nanoclusters. Due to the insulating nature of the substrate we use dynamic scanning force microscopy operated in the non-contact mode (NC-AFM) to characterize the nanotemplate, to examine the size and distribution of metallic clusters on the surface and to investigate their position with respect to the surface atomic structure. The present NC-AFM results for the interaction of Ni with alpha-Al(2)O(3)are supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The ability of alpha-Al2O3(0001) to act as a nanotemplate is attributed to a spatially modulated affinity towards the accommodation of Ni into the top layer by substituting the surface Al atoms at certain sites on the root 31 x root 31 R9 degrees reconstructed surface formed by high-temperature annealing. The insulating template, demonstrated for Al2O3, may be a generally attractive system for the study of nanostructures which need to be isolated from a conducting bulk.
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