The oxygen induced reconstructed phases of the Ni{110} surface were studied by time-of-flight scattering and recoiling spectrometry. The substrate structures were determined from experimental measurements of azimuthal angle and polar incident angle anisotropies in the scattered Ne intensities coupled with classical trajectory simulations for shadow cone analysis. By monitoring features in the scans that were unique to specific phases, it was possible to follow the migration of the first-layer Ni atoms as a function of O2 exposure. The results show that upon increasing exposures of the clean Ni{110}–(1 x 1) surface to O2, a series of low-energy electron diffraction patterns [initial p(3 x 1), p(2 x 1), and final p(3 x 1)] was produced corresponding to three surface phases which differ only in the density of the first-layer Ni <001> rows. These nascent so-called added rows were stabilized by bonding to oxygen atoms which reside in the long-bridge positions along the <001> rows. Structural models for the three phases were confirmed from the data and the inhibiting effects of carbon and sulfur impurities on the reconstruction was considered.

Oxygen Induced Added-Row Reconstruction of the Ni{110} Surface. H.Bu, C.D.Roux, J.W.Rabalais: Journal of Chemical Physics, 1992, 97[2], 1465