Structure and properties of samarium overlayer and Sm/Rh surface alloy on Rh(100)

The structure and properties of Sm overlayer and Sm/Rh surface alloy have been investigated with Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and temperature programmed desorption spectroscopy (TDS). The growth of Sm on Rh(100) at room temperature (RT) appears following the Stranski-Krastanov growth mode and only the trivalent state Sm is observed from XPS results. Thermal treatment of the Sm film at 900 K leads to the formation of ordered surface alloy which shows the c(5√2 × √2)R45° and c(2×2) LEED patterns. Annealing the Sm film at temperature above 400 K makes the binding energy (B.E.) of Sm 3d5/2 shift to higher energy by 0.7 eV, which indicates charge transfer from Sm to Rh(100) substrate, causing the increase of CO desorption temperature.