• Surface consisting of a few number of atomic layers forms the skin of a substance.• The skin shell forms a high-density phase that is more elastic, stiffer, chemically and thermally less stable with entrapped electrons, and subjective polarization.• Bond relaxation happens only in the skin in a radial way. The extent and depth of bond relaxation increase with surface curvature.• In placing with the conventional concept of surface free energy, the energy density and the atomic cohesive energy in the skin region determine the performance of a surface.• BOLS notation holds for defects, skins of solids and liquids, as well as molecules in gaseous phases.
Skin Bond Relaxation
Monolayer RelaxationThere has been huge database of skin bond contraction for flat surfaces (Table 12.1 and Fig. 11.2b). Atomic undercoordination-induced bond contraction derived interlayer relaxation and intra-plane reconstruction are common. For instance, LEED and DFT revealed some 10 % reduction in the first-layer spacing (d 12 ) of the hcp (1010)