Structure of the hydrogen-stabilized MgO (111) - (1×1) polar surface: Integrated experimental and theoretical studies

The surface structure of MgOs111d-s1 3 1d bulk and thinned single crystals have been investigated by transmission and reflection high-energy electron diffraction, low-energy electron diffraction sLEEDd, and x-ray photoelectron and Auger electron diffraction. The s1 3 1d polar surface periodicity is observed both after 800 °C annealing in air and also after oxygen plasma cleaning and annealing in ultrahigh vacuum. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and diffraction results were analyzed by simulations based on path-reversed LEED theory and by first-principles calculations to help distinguish between different mechanisms for the stabilization of this extremely polar oxide surface: s1d stabilization by adsorption of a hydrogen monolayer; maintaining the insulating nature of the surface and s2d stabilization of the clean O or Mg terminated 1 3 1 surface by interlayer relaxations and two-dimensional surface metallization. The analysis favors stabilization by a single OH layer, where hydrogen sits on top of the O ions with O-H bond distance of 0.98A. The in-plane O and Mg positions fit regular rocksalt sites, the distance between the topmost O and Mg plane is 1.04 A, contracted by ,14% with respect to bulk MgO distance of 1.21 A, while the interlayer separation of the deeper layers is close to that of bulk, contracted by less than 1%. The presence of a monolayer of H associated with the terminal layer of oxygen reduces significantly the surface dipole and stabilizes the surface.

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