Origin of Minor Heat-Capacity Peaks in Cu(100) Surface Systems

Determine the origin of the minor heat-capacity peaks near 1700 K in the pure Cu(100) surface system and near 2350 K in the Cu–O surface system.

Background

Nested sampling calculations for the pure Cu(100) and oxidized Cu(100) surfaces reveal minor, less pronounced heat-capacity peaks in addition to the major gas-to-condensed-layer and surface-melting transitions. Structural-factor changes occur near these temperatures, suggesting that modifications of long-range order may be involved, but the paper does not establish the physical origin of either peak.

References

The origin of the minor peaks at $\approx1700$~K for Cu and $\approx2350$~K for CuO remains less clear.

— Finite-Temperature Thermodynamics of Cu(100) Oxidation: Missing-Row Reconstruction, Defect States, and Order-Disorder Transition from Nested Sampling  (2608.12787 - Riccius et al., 13 Aug 2026) in Section “Results and Discussion,” subsection “The Oxygen Induced Missing Row Reconstructions,” paragraph “Phase Transitions”