STM Study of the Initial Stage of Gold Intercalation of Graphene on Ir(111)

In this paper, we present a study of the sub-monolayer gold intercalation of graphene on Ir(111) using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). We found that Au islands grow following different kinetics than growth on Ir(111) without graphene. Graphene appears to increase the mobility of Au atoms by shifting the growth kinetics of Au islands from dendritic to a more compact shape. Graphene on top of intercalated gold exhibits a moiré superstructure, with parameters significantly different from graphene on Au(111) but almost identical to graphene on Ir(111). The intercalated Au monolayer shows a quasi-herringbone reconstruction with similar structural parameters as on Au(111).