First-principles studies on the Au surfactant on polar ZnO surfaces

The surfactant effect of Au in ZnO nanostructures growth is studied using first-principles slab calculations based on density functional theory. The atomic structure and electronic properties of one monolayer of Au atoms on polar ZnO surfaces are examined. It is found that (1) one monolayer (ML) of Au capping layer on the ZnO polar surfaces may modify the growing properties of ZnO nanostructures by enhancing the binding energy by 0.41 eV/atom for Zn adsorption on the polar surfaces; (2) the Au adlayer on the polar ZnO surfaces seems more active for the adsorption of Zn atoms, which may be at the very heart of the effect that Au acts as catalyst for the growth of the ZnO nanostructures; and (3) total energy calculations show that the gold on-top geometry is energetically favorable than the gold diffused geometry, which may be useful to understand the phenomenon that Au particles are only found at the end of ZnO nanostructures during the growth process.