Differences in Molecular Adsorption Emanating from the (2 × 1) Reconstruction of Calcite(104)

Calcite, in the natural environment the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), not only is an abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust but also forms a central constituent in the biominerals of living organisms. Intensive studies of calcite(104), the surface supporting virtually all processes, have been performed, and the interaction with a plethora of adsorbed species has been studied. Surprisingly, there is still serious ambiguity regarding the properties of the calcite(104) surface: effects such as a row-pairing or a (2 × 1) reconstruction have been reported, yet so far without physicochemical explanation. Here, we unravel the microscopic geometry of calcite(104) using high-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) data acquired at 5 K combined with density functional theory (DFT) and AFM image calculations. A (2 × 1) reconstruction of a pg-symmetric surface is found to be the thermodynamically most stable form. Most importantly, a decisive impact of the (2 × 1) reconstruction on adsorbed species is revealed for carbon monoxide.