Surface alloying of immiscible metals induced by surface state shift

By using first principles calculations, it is found that the noble metal atoms Ag, Au and Cu would like to occupy the vacancy sites of the W(0 0 1) or Mo(0 0 1) surface to form the substitutional surface alloys, despite the fact that they do not like to form alloy in the bulk. The electronic local function (ELF) for these substitutional surface alloys shows that there is no obvious chemical bonding between the noble metals and W or Mo. The analysis of electronic structures lets us conclude that the surface alloying of immiscible metals may originate from the surface state shift of W (or Mo) induced by changes of the electronic environment of surface W (or Mo) when surface W (or Mo) atoms are alternatively replaced by Ag (Au or Cu).