Mechanisms for liquid slip at solid surfaces

The nucleation and growth of unidirectional molecular rows upon adsorption of the amino acid cysteine onto the AU(110)-(1×2) surface were analyzed under ultrahigh vaccum conditions. It was observed that in the optimum, lowest energy configuration, no intermolecular interactions existed along the growth direction. It was also observed that the driving force for formation of the unidirectional molecular rows was an adsorbate-induced surface rearrangement which provided adsorption sites for the molecules.