Fe3O4(110)-(1 × 3) revisited: Periodic (111) nanofacets

The structure of the Fe3O4(110)-(1 × 3) surface was studied with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). The so-called one-dimensional reconstruction is characterized by bright rows that extend hundreds of nanometers in the [1¯10] direction and have a periodicity of 2.52 nm in [001] in STM. It is concluded that this reconstruction is the result of a periodic faceting to expose {111}-type planes with a lower surface energy.