Kinetic Monte Carlo approach for triangular‐shaped Pt islands on Pt(111) surfaces

Abstract

Abstract Formation of triangular‐shaped Pt adatom islands on a Pt(111) surface is investigated using a kinetic Monte Carlo approach. The energy barriers are calculated with the generalized embedded atom method and the nudged elastic band approach. The numerical results reveal that the preferential orientation of the triangles cannot be explained solely by the differences in the diffusion coefficients of the atoms along the topologically non‐equivalent edges of the islands. For a self‐consistent explanation of the triangle orientations, one has to examine the topological and energetic details of the diffusion paths for all the edge diffusion processes, kink‐formation or kink‐breaking events, and corner to edge jumps.