LEED analysis of a nickel cylindrical single crystal

Using a low energy electron diffraction analysis, we have investigated the surface structure of a large cylindrical nickel single crystal. We show that a single cleaning procedure results for the low and high step density regions in a clean surface that contains only monoatomic steps. In between the low and high step density regions, some streaking is observed in the diffraction patterns. The streaking is attributed to increased disorder and partial reconstruction of the surface. For the (211) vicinal surfaces, streaking is related to the presence of an adsorbate, most likely oxygen, on the steps. We conclude that large sections of the circumference of the cylindrical crystal can be used for studies relating local surface structure to chemical reactivity for stepped surfaces in the 110 zone.