Core-electron binding energies of adsorbed metallic monolayers: Au/Ag(111)

Born-Haber cycles which relate core-electron binding energies of adsorbed isolated atoms and monolayers to adsorption enthalpies and monolayer cohesive energies are used to interpret the measured shifts for Au on Ag, Au, and Pt substrates and to deduce the cohesive interaction within the adlayer. For one monolayer of Au on Ag(111) the core-electron binding-energy shift is negative, but smaller in magnitude than that of surface atoms on bulk gold. The 5d band of the Au monolayers is, however, significantly narrower than that of the first monolayer on bulk gold, but not as much as expected on the basis of the reduced gold coordination number.