Energetics and atomic steps in the reconstruction of the Pt(110) plane

By use of molecular-dynamics simulation, details of the atomic steps involved in the (1×{}1) to (1×{}2) reconstruction of the Pt(110) surface are studied. The energetics of these surfaces is also studied and compared with available theoretical and experimental results. The surface atoms are found to rearrange into the missing-row model of the (1×{}2) reconstructed surface. The reconstruction involves the breaking of the [11{}0] atomic rows and the spreading of these row fragments by the replacement of the atoms of the top surface layer with the channel-wall atoms of the second surface layer.