Real-Time Imaging of K atoms on Graphite: Interactions and Diffusion

Abstract

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at liquid helium temperature is used to image potassium adsorbed on graphite at low coverage (~0.02 monolayer). Single atoms appear as protrusions on STM topographs. A statistical analysis of the position of the atoms demonstrates repulsion between adsorbates, which is quantified by comparison with molecular dynamics simulations. This gives access to the dipole moment of a single adsorbate, found to be 10.5 Debye. Time lapse imaging shows that long range order is broken by thermally activated diffusion, with a 32 meV barrier to hopping between graphite lattice sites.

References in corpus (5)

• Charged Impurity Scattering in Graphene
• Superconducting states of pure and doped graphene
• Atomic Collapse and Quasi-Rydberg States in Graphene
• Density functional study of alkali metal atoms and monolayers on graphite (0001)
• Screening of Coulomb Impurities in Graphene

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Correlated charged impurity scattering in graphene
• Hydrogen storage with titanium-functionalized graphene
• Anisotropic two-dimensional screening at the surface of black phosphorus
• Liquid-solid surface phase transformation of fluorinated fullerene on monolayer tungsten diselenide
• Scattering strength of potassium on a carbon nanotube with known chirality