Self-diffusion along step bottoms on Pt(111)

First-principles total energies of periodic vicinals are used to estimate barriers for Pt-adatom diffusion along straight and kinked steps on Pt(111), and around a corner where straight steps intersect. In all cases studied, hopping diffusion has a lower barrier than concerted substitution. In conflict with simulations of dendritic Pt island formation on Pt(111), hopping from a corner site to a step whose riser is a (111) microfacet is predicted to be more facile than to one whose riser is a (100). [S0163-1829(99)05331-X].