The breaking of surface bonds and the alteration of interatomic forces increase the surface stress and reduce the stability of the fresh surface. To overcome this instability, the majority of surfaces undergo a spontaneous geometrical reconstruction, which is generally associated with charge transfer between surface atoms. Unraveling the mechanism responsible for such reconstructions is essential to understanding properties of surfaces, and it helps optimize materials performance in applications such as microelectronics and fuel cells. By combining calculations and experiments, we have found an alternative and radically different mechanism for surface reconstructions based on charge trapping.

Phys Rev. X 7, 031053 (2017)

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