Surfaces of Al-based complex metallic alloys: atomic structure, thin film growth and reactivity

Julian Ledieu (1) , Émilie Gaudry (1) , Vincent Fournée (1)

1 IJL - Institut Jean Lamour

We present a review on recent work performed on periodic complex metallic alloy (CMA) surfaces. The electronic and crystallographic structures of clean pseudo-tenfold, pseudo-twofold, sixfold surfaces will be presented along with the recent findings on CMA of lower structural complexity, i.e. with a smaller unit cell. The use of CMA surfaces as templates for thin film growth and the formation of surface alloy will also be introduced. The reactivity of these complex surfaces and their impact in the field of heterogeneous catalysis will be discussed. Finally, common trends among these systems will be highlighted when possible and future challenges will be examined.

Mots clés: complex metallic alloys; quasicrystal; approximant; surfaces; thin film; reactivity; structure; nucleation; scanning tunnelling microscopy; ab initio; alloy

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Matériaux

Julian Ledieu, Émilie Gaudry, Vincent Fournée. Surfaces of Al-based complex metallic alloys: atomic structure, thin film growth and reactivity. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2014, 15 (3), pp.034802. ⟨10.1088/1468-6996/15/3/034802⟩. ⟨hal-01075798⟩