High resolution friction force maps of the benzylammonium terminated crystalline surface of a layer compound are presented. The lateral force map acquired with an atomic force microscope, reveals a significant contrast between different molecular orientations yielding molecular rows which differ from their neighboring ones. The single crystals are formed by stacks of copper oxalate sheets sandwiched between stereoregular organic cations, resulting in highly organized surface structures. Single molecular defects are observed at small loads. The experimental results are compared with numerical calculations which indicate a transition from an unperturbed state at small loads to a distorted state at higher loads.

A graphene sample supported on SiO2 with pristine and plasma-hydrogenated parts is investigated by friction force microscopy. An initial contrast in friction is apparent between the two regions. A tip induced cleaning of the surface in the course of continuous scanning results in a very clean surface accompanied with a reduction of the friction force by a factor of up to 4. The contamination is adhering stronger to hydrogenated regions, but once cleaned, the frictional behavior is the same on pristine and hydrogenated graphene. Raman imaging demonstrates that the hydrogenation remains intact under the mechanical treatment.

No abstract

We have investigated the morphology and structure of dolomite MgCa(CO(3))(2)(104) surfaces by bimodal dynamic force microscopy with flexural and torsional resonance modes in ultra-high vacuum at room temperature. We found that the surface slowly decomposes by degassing CO(2) in a vacuum and becomes covered by amorphous clusters, presumably MgO and CaO. By choosing an optimal sample preparation procedure (i.e. cleaving in a vacuum and mild annealing for stabilizing clusters for a short time), atomically clean surfaces were obtained. The complex tip-sample interaction, arising from carbonate groups and Mg and Ca atoms of the surface, induces a large variety of atomic-scale imaging features.

No abstract