Spiral adsorbate structures on monoatomic nanowire electrodes

STEFAN FRANK; GERMÁN JOSÉ SOLDANO; CHRISTOPH HARTNIG; MARC KOPER; WOLFGANG SCHMICKLER

Sevilla

Congreso; 59th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry; 2008

International Society of Electrochemistry

Monoatomic nanowire electrodes are quite unique: one-dimensional; hence, the capacitance and diffusion rates are higher than in the case of planar electrodes. There is no experimental information on the structure of the electrochemical interface, therefore theory and computer simulations are needed. Here, we present classical simulations of an idealized model system that show dramatically different adsorption behaviour simply due to the different geometry. In a second part, we perform an extensive check of our model system and present some preliminary indications that, transposing taken-for-granted knowledge about the electrochemical interface at single-crystal planar electrodes may fail. How do their distinct geometry and coordination influence the characteristics of monoatomic nanowires?