Adsorption of Ag and Au atoms on wurtzite ZnO (0001) surface

We perform first-principles calculations to investigate various surface structures in the absorption of Ag and Au atoms on wurtzite ZnO (0001) surface. The results show that both Ag and Au atoms prefer to be absorbed on the H₃ sites (the center of Zn–O ring) of the surface, and the most favorable monolayer (ML) coverage is 1. The calculated electron structure shows that the Ag- and Au-adsorbed ZnO (0001) surfaces exhibit metallic characteristics even the ML coverage of the adatoms is very low. Finally, the work functions of Ag- and Au-adsorbed ZnO (0001) surfaces are calculated and discussed for the first time in the present work.