Atomically resolved interfacial water structures on crystalline hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces

Abstract

Hydration layers are formed on hydrophilic crystalline surfaces immersed in water.

Electrochemistry, ion adsorption and dynamics in the double layer: a study of NaCl(aq) on graphite

“…Solvent layers are separated by 0.3 nm; this distance was determined for water at clean graphite surfaces in a recent study combining simulations with AFM measurements. [55] Only limited ordering of the orientation of water molecules perpendicular to the graphite surface was observed. This is highlighted in Figure S5, which shows that the peaks for water O and H atoms are approximately at the same position in x.…”

“…The structuring of water at planar interfaces appears to be rather insensitive to the electrolyte concentration and, for most practical purposes, the substrate material and surface contamination. [55] Mean ion concentrations in the double layer.…”

Predicting hydration layers on surfaces using deep learning

“…The measured force between an AFM tip and the surface hydration layers in the solution comprises tipsurface-solvent interactions and entropic effects, and linking this to the image-contrast mechanism requires an intensive modelling approach for reliable understanding. [15][16][17][18] The demonstration of a direct relationship between experimental AFM force data and water densities opened an easier route to interpret the images through simulations, 19,20 which were further advanced by inclusion of the inuence of the tip's hydration structure in the forces 21 and an analysis of the role of tip radius. 17 However, these studies still require detailed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of water over various estimates of surface structures to describe the hydration structure formed at the mineral-liquid interfacethis is computationally expensive and requires complex parameterisation of classical force elds.…”

Hydration Dynamics and the Future of Small-Amplitude AFM Imaging in Air

“…Moreover, the user must cope with and understand the character of some dynamic variables, such as the sharpness of the tip [ 9 , 10 ], otherwise referred to as the tip radius, R, in high-resolution imaging applications. Perhaps counter-intuitively to the newcomer, the field has rapidly advanced in two extremes—in liquid [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ] and UHV environments [ 15 ]—while several complex phenomena have hindered the imaging and quantification of phenomena in air [ 16 ] with similar resolutions, controls, or throughputs [ 3 ]. There has been research in air in terms of capillary interactions [ 17 ], spontaneous capillary condensation [ 16 ], and the way the air environment affects surfaces [ 18 ], molecules on it, and modes of imaging [ 3 , 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

“…Force reconstruction techniques in air are currently being employed to decouple oscillatory and monotonic terms and simultaneously resolve interfacial water structures in liquid with an atomic resolution [ 12 ]. The oscillatory contributions correspond to the surface forces that provide information about the spatial frequencies of the liquid density.…”