Coadsorption of lanthanum with boron and gadolinium with boron on Mo(1 1 0)

Submonolayer to multilayer coadsorption of lanthanum (La) with boron (B) and gadolinium (Gd) with boron on the surface of Mo(1 1 0) has been studied by means of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and work function (ϕ) measurements. The equilibrium state of double adsorbate systems achieved either by adsorption of rare-earth metal (REM) on boron precovered Mo(1 1 0) surface held at room temperature or after moderate annealing of the system with opposite order of adsorption (B on REM films) is the layer which is the inhomogeneous mixture of boron and REM atoms with preferential concentration of boron in the surface area of the mixed film. The work function of such films even at REM to boron concentration ratio much higher than 1/6 are very close to the values of corresponding bulk LaB6 and GdB6, favoring assumption of surface rearrangement as the dominant reason of high electron emission efficiency of hexaborides. Almost total similarity of the results for La–B and Gd–B systems can be viewed as the consequence of weak participation of Gd f-electrons in determining the thermionic properties of corresponding double layers.