Intrinsic reconstruction of ice-I surfaces

Abstract

Understanding the precise atomic structure of ice surfaces is critical for revealing the mechanisms of physical and chemical phenomena at the surfaces, such as ice growth, melting, and chemical reactions. Nevertheless, no conclusive structure has been established. In this study, noncontact atomic force microscopy was used to address the characterization of the atomic structures of ice Ih(0001) and Ic(111) surfaces. The topmost hydrogen atoms are arranged with a short-range (2 × 2) order, independent of the ice thickness and growth substrates used. The electrostatic repulsion between non–hydrogen-bonded water molecules at the surface causes a reduction in the number of the topmost hydrogen atoms together with a distortion of the ideal honeycomb arrangement of water molecules, leading to a short-range–ordered surface reconstruction.

Identification of a common ice nucleus on hydrophilic and hydrophobic close-packed metal surfaces

“…Recent developments in noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) enable real-space characterization of the atomic structure of surface water with precise positional information of the oxygen atoms [12][13][14]23,25,26 along with corresponding O-H bond orientations 27,28 . Here, we use this method to image the structure of a critical ice nucleus formed on hydrophilic Pt(111) and hydrophobic Cu(111) surfaces at the atomic scale and have revealed the inherent similarity in ice nucleation on both surfaces.…”

Charge Localization Induced by Pentagons on Ge(110)

“…The germanium pentagons form pairs and arrange themselves in a zig-zag fashion to form various reconstructions, namely, the (16 × 2) reconstruction, see Figure a, the newly discovered (14 × 2) reconstruction, see Figure b, the c(8 × 10) reconstruction, see Figure c, and a disordered phase, see Figure d. The corresponding fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) and self-correlation images (acquired similarly to refs and ) of the topographies of each aforementioned reconstruction are given on the right side of panels (a) to (d). The (16 × 2) and (14 × 2) reconstructions, shown in Figure a,b, are the thermodynamically most stable reconstructions. , They decorate step edges, resulting in a height difference between the two pentagon rows, which corresponds to the height of one atomic layer of the Ge(110) surface.…”

Surface Science in the Research and Development of Hydrate-Based Sustainable Technologies

“…AFM has been employed for studying the QLL of ice ,− and hydrate surfaces . Upon approaching the tip to the surface, the following regimes are anticipated (Figure b).…”