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When surface dynamics fakes symmetry: Oxygen on Rh(100) revisited

Lutz Hammer1,*, Tilman Kißlinger1, Margareta Wagner2,†, Reinhard B. Neder3, Michael Schmid2, Ulrike Diebold2, and M. Alexander Schneider1

  • *Contact author: lutz.hammer@fau.de
  • †Contact author: wagner@iap.tuwien.ac.at
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023296 – Published 15 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5wmb-kmjb

Abstract

Heating a long-range ordered adsorbate phase beyond its stability temperature does not necessarily result in a disordered phase; it can also break up into heavily fluctuating ordered domains. Temporal and/or spatial averaging over these fluctuations may give the impression of both a wrong periodicity and false symmetry elements such as nonexisting glide planes or rotational axes of incorrect order. This can happen in real space and reciprocal space, and also below liquid-nitrogen temperature, so that the true nature of the phase might remain undetected. We demonstrate this scenario at the catalytically active Rh(100) surface covered by 12 monolayer of oxygen, using quantitative low-energy electron diffraction, variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, and density functional theory. Using the example of CO adsorption, we show that local symmetry can have a decisive influence on the binding energy and thus the chemical reactivity.

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References (33)

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023296– Published 15 June, 2026
  • Received 18 August 2025
  • Accepted 29 April 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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