Intercalation of copper underneath a monolayer of graphite on Ni(111) - art. no. 035405

Angle-resolved photoemission and scanning tunneling microscopy have been ap plied to study the intercalation of copper underneath a monolayer of graphi te (MG) on Ni(111). The room-temperature deposition of copper on MG/Ni(111) in the coverage range 4-12 Angstrom leads to the growth of Cu islands on th e MG. Annealing of the "as-deposited'' system at a temperature of 400 degre esC results in the intercalation of all Cu atoms underneath the MG. The int ercalation of Cu is followed by a shift of the graphite-derived valence ban ds toward energies that are characteristic of pristine graphite. This obser vation is understood in terms of a weakening of chemical bonding between th e MG and the substrate in the MG/Cu/Ni(111) system.