Growth Mode Analysis of Cu Nanoparticles on Rutile TiO₂(110)

Abstract

The growth mode of Cu nanoparticles deposited on the rutile TiO₂(110) surfaces have been investigated by high-resolution medium energy ion scattering (MEIS). The observed MEIS spectra are well reproduced assuming the hemispherical and two-dimensional islands. The MEIS results indicated that the two-dimensional islands of Cu nanoparticles grow initially up to Cu coverage of 0.3 ML and then three-dimensional islands growth become dominant. Interestingly, growth mode is the same tendency for both reduced TiO₂ (R-TiO₂) and oxygen-rich TiO₂ (O-TiO₂). These results indicate that Cu has grown as a Volmer-Weber growth mode for TiO₂ system and that Cu nanoparticles are formed as both 2D- and 3D- islands on R- and O-TiO₂. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2018.225]