Atomic scale reaction regulated in one-dimensional channels evidenced by scanning tunneling microscopy

By reacting (-Ag-O-) strings on Ag(110) with Cu atoms at rooṁ temperature, (-Cu-O-) strings were grown on the Ag(110) surface. The (-Cu-O-) chains grow along the [11̄0] direction and are ordered in a p2mg(2×2) structure on the Ag(110) surface. When a p2mg(2×2)(-Cu-O-)/Ag(110) surface was heated for several minutes at 570 K, the (-Cu-O-) strings were rearranged to a p(1×3) structure and the (-Cu-O-) strings underwent the preferential decomposition along the phase boundary of the p(1×3) domains. The decomposition of the (-Cu-O-) strings yielded uniform size (Cu)₆ cluster dots (∼8 A) along the [11̄0] axis on the Ag(UO) surface and its reverse reaction, the (Cu)₆+O₂→(-Cu-O-) string, took place also along the [11̄0] axis at room temperature.