Electronic structure and bond relaxation at Na/Ta(110) interfaces and 1D-chain and 2D-ring Ta metal structures on Na(110)

TL;DR

This study explores the electronic structure and bond relaxation at Na/Ta interfaces, revealing the formation of 1D and 2D Ta structures on Na surfaces and elucidating the underlying electronic mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a combined BBB and ZES approach to analyze and predict the formation of 1D and 2D metal structures at Na/Ta interfaces.

Findings

7/9 ML and 8/9 ML Ta form 1D chains and 2D rings on Na(110)

Na-induced BE shifts are dominated by quantum entrapment

Ta-induced BE shifts are dominated by polarization

Abstract

We investigated the mechanism of Na/Ta(110) and Ta/Na(110) interfaces using a combination of bond band barrier (BBB) and zone selective electron spectroscopy (ZES) correlation. We found that 7/9 ML and 8/9 ML Ta metal on a Na(110) surface form one dimensional (1D) chain and two dimensional (2D) ring structures, respectively. Moreover, we show that on Na(110), the Ta-induced Na(110) surface binding energy (BE) shifts are dominated by quantum entrapment. On the contrary, on a Ta(110) surface, the Na-induced Ta(110) surface BE shifts are dominated by polarization. Thus, the BBB and ZES strategy could potentially be used for designing 1D and 2D metals with desired structures and properties.