Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2011
We present results for the electronic structure and chemical properties of thin Pd films grown epitaxially on Au(lll) single-crystal substrates. Photoemission spectroscopy is used to monitor the development of the Pd d-bands near the Fermi energy (EF ) as a function of overlayer thickness. The state density aF E is relatively small for the single Pd monolayer (ML), but increases monotonically with overlayer thickness, resembling the bulk Pd electronic structure for films thicker than 5 ML. At the same time we observe that the 1 ML Pd film is iner with respect to CO chemisorption, while the multilayer films readily chemisorb CO, similar to bulk Pd. We examine possible models for the inert behavior of the Pd monolayer, based on related slab calculations which show the substrate-induced modification of the electronic structure in the overlayer.