UHV transmission electron microscopy on the reconstructed surface of (111) gold: I. General features

The reconstructed surface structure of (111) gold was studied by ultra-high vacuum transmission electron microscopy and diffraction and the results are described in this series of papers. In part I the observed fringes spaced about 6.3 nm in the images of (111) gold platelets grown on molybdenite, magnesium oxide and graphite are shown to be due to a reconstructed surface structure of unidirectional shrinkage of the surface layer by about 4% along one of the 〈1$\text{1}$0〉 directions on the (111) surface. The shrinkage of the surface layer of the same amount from the bulk lattice was found to take place on gold crystals of different lattice parameters, which were formed by pseudomorphic overgrowth of gold on gold containing various amounts of palladium and indium. Evidence is given for the fact that the shrinkage is not uniform and the observed fringes are not simple interference fringes between the shrunk surface layer and the underlying bulk lattice. At high temperatures the structure first transforms gradually and reversibly to an isotropically shrunk one, and finally the reconstruction disappears above about 900°C.