Surface structures of In-Pd intermetallic compounds. II. A theoretical study.

The (110) surface of the InPd intermetallic compound and the In–Pd surface alloy properties are investigated in the framework of the density functional theory, within the projector augmented plane-wave method. Surface segregation is calculated to be energetically unfavorable at stoichiometric InPd(110) surfaces, while indium antisites are shown to segregate to the surface in off-stoichiometric InPd(110) systems. Concerning surface alloys obtained by burying In-doped Pd layers in Pd(111), we demonstrated that the most stable ones are those presenting atomic indium concentrations below 50 at. % (11 at. %, 25 at. %, 33 at. %). According to our calculations, the In-doped Pd layers with concentration above or equal to 50% lead to In-doped Pd multilayers, each presenting an atomic indium concentration below 50 at. %. Alloying and segregation effects in InPd intermetallic compound and In–Pd surface alloys clearly agree with the larger bonding strength of In–Pd (−0.44 eV) compared to In–In (−0.29 eV) and Pd–Pd (−0.31 eV).