Nucleation of gold atoms on vanadyl-terminated V2O3(0001)

The adsorption of Au atoms on a vanadyl-terminated V 2 O 3 film grown on Au(111) is studied by means of low-temperature STM and DFT+ U calculations. The adatoms preferentially bind in an bridge configuration between two adjacent groups. Missing vanadyl groups that have been identified as the characteristic surface defect do not offer an attractive binding environment and are only sparsely occupied with Au. On the other hand, varying concentrations of V 2 O 3 bulk defects that modulate the oxide electronic structure are found to affect the spatial distribution of Au atoms on the oxide surface.