Ortho and para hydrogen dimers on G/SiC(0001): combined STM and DFT study

Langmuir. 2015;31(1):233-9. doi: 10.1021/la504021x. Epub 2014 Dec 23.

Abstract

The hydrogen (H) dimer structures formed upon room-temperature H adsorption on single layer graphene (SLG) grown on SiC(0001) are addressed using a combined theoretical-experimental approach. Our study includes density functional theory (DFT) calculations for the full (6√3 × 6√3)R30° unit cell of the SLG/SiC(0001) substrate and atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscopy images determining simultaneously the graphene lattice and the internal structure of the H adsorbates. We show that H atoms normally group in chemisorbed coupled structures of different sizes and orientations. We make an atomic scale determination of the most stable experimental geometries, the small dimers and ellipsoid-shaped features, and we assign them to hydrogen adsorbed in para dimers and ortho dimers configuration, respectively, through comparison with the theory.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Dimerization
  • Graphite / chemistry*
  • Hydrogen / chemistry*
  • Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling
  • Quantum Theory*

Substances

  • Graphite
  • Hydrogen