probing-structure-dynamics-interfacial-water-with-scanning-tunneling

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy

Water/solid interfaces are ubiquitous and play a key role in many environmental, biophysical, and technological processes. Resolving the internal ...

Peking University

The dissolution of sodium chloride (NaCl) in water is a frequently encountered process in our daily lives. While the NaCl dissolution process in liquid water has been extensively studied, whether and how the dissolution occurs below the freezing point is still not clear. Using a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM), here we were able to directly visualize the dissolution of Au-supported NaCl (0 0 1) bilayer islands by water at atomic level. We found that the single water molecule on the STM tip can assist the extraction of single Na from the NaCl surface even at 5 K, while leaving the Cl intact. When covered with a full water monolayer, the NaCl islands started to dissolve from the step edges and also showed evidence of dissolution inside the terraces as the temperature was raised up to 145 K. At 155 K, the water molecules completely desorbed from the surface, which was accompanied with the decomposition and restructuring of the bilayer NaCl islands. Those results suggest that the dissolution of NaCl may occur well below the freezing point at the ice/NaCl interfaces and is mainly driven by the interaction between the water molecules and the Na, which is in clear contrast with the NaCl dissolution in liquid water.

Atomic-scale imaging of the dissolution of NaCl islands by water at low temperature.

Scanning probe microscopy has been extensively applied to probe interfacial water in many interdisciplinary fields but the disturbance of the probes on the hydrogen-bonding structure of water has remained an intractable problem. Here, we report submolecular-resolution imaging of the water clusters on a NaCl(001) surface within the nearly noninvasive region by a qPlus-based noncontact atomic force microscopy. Comparison with theoretical simulations reveals that the key lies in probing the weak high-order electrostatic force between the quadrupole-like CO-terminated tip and the polar water molecules at large tip-water distances. This interaction allows the imaging and structural determination of the weakly bonded water clusters and even of their metastable states with negligible disturbance. This work may open an avenue for studying the intrinsic structure and dynamics of ice or water on surfaces, ion hydration, and biological water with atomic precision.

Weakly perturbative imaging of interfacial water with submolecular resolution by atomic force microscopy.

The atomic structures of self-assembled silicon nanoribbons and magic clusters on Ag(110) substrate have been studied by high-resolution noncontact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). Pentagon-ring structures in Si nanoribbons and clusters have been directly visualized. Moreover, the vibrational fingerprints of individual Si nanoribbon and cluster retrieved by subnanometer resolution TERS confirm the pentagonal nature of both Si nanoribbons and clusters. This work demonstrates that Si pentagon can be an important element in building silicon nanostructures, which may find important applications for future nanoelectronic devices based on silicon.

The Pentagonal Nature of Self-Assembled Silicon Chains and Magic Clusters on Ag(110).

Ion hydration and transport at interfaces are relevant to a wide range of applied fields and natural processes. Interfacial effects are particularly profound in confined geometries such as nanometre-sized channels, where the mechanisms of ion transport in bulk solutions may not apply. To correlate atomic structure with the transport properties of hydrated ions, both the interfacial inhomogeneity and the complex competing interactions among ions, water and surfaces require detailed molecular-level characterization. Here we constructed individual sodium ion (Na) hydrates on a NaCl(001) surface by progressively attaching single water molecules (one to five) to the Na ion using a combined scanning tunnelling microscopy and noncontact atomic force microscopy system. We found that the Na ion hydrated with three water molecules diffuses orders of magnitude more quickly than other ion hydrates. Ab initio calculations revealed that such high ion mobility arises from the existence of a metastable state, in which the three water molecules around the Na ion can rotate collectively with a rather small energy barrier. This scenario would apply even at room temperature according to our classical molecular dynamics simulations. Our work suggests that anomalously high diffusion rates for specific hydration numbers of ions are generally determined by the degree of symmetry match between the hydrates and the surface lattice.

Runze Ma

International Center for Quantum Materials,
School of Physics,
International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics

Peking University

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy

Runze Ma

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}International Center for Quantum Materials,School of Physics,International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics

Peking University

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy

International Center for Quantum Materials,
School of Physics,
International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics