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Z. Wang, X. Hao, S. Gerhold, P. Mares, M. Wagner, R. Bliem, K. Schulte, M. Schmid, C. Franchini, U. Diebold:
"Stabilizing Single Ni Adatoms on a Two-Dimensional Porous Titania Overlayer at the SrTiO₃(110) Surface";
Journal of Physical Chemistry, 118 (2014), 19904 - 19909.

Nickel vapor-deposited on the SrTiO3(110)
surface was studied using scanning tunneling microscopy,
photoemission spectroscopy (PES), and density functional
theory calculations. This surface forms a (4 × 1)
reconstruction, composed of a 2-D titania structure with
periodic six- and ten-membered nanopores. Anchored at these
nanopores, Ni single adatoms are stabilized at room
temperature. PES measurements show that the Ni adatoms
create an in-gap state located at 1.9 eV below the conduction
band minimum and induce an upward band bending. Both
experimental and theoretical results suggest that Ni adatoms are positively charged. Our study produces well-dispersed singleadatom
arrays on a well-characterized oxide support, providing a model system to investigate single-adatom catalytic and
magnetic properties.