Nanoscale periodic modulations on sodium chloride surface revealed by tuning fork atomic force microscopy

Kendal W. Clark, Shengyong Qin, X. G. Zhang, An Ping Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The sodium chloride surface is one of the most common platforms for the study of catalysts, thin film growth, and atmospheric aerosols. Here we report a nanoscale periodic modulation pattern on the surface of a cleaved NaCl single crystal, revealed by non-contact atomic force microscopy with a tuning fork sensor. The surface pattern shows two orthogonal domains, extending over the entire cleavage surface. The spatial modulations exhibit a characteristic period of 5.4nm, along 110 crystallographic directions of the NaCl. The modulations are robust in vacuum, not affected by the tip-induced electric field or gentle annealing (<300°C); however, they are eliminated after exposure to water and an atomically flat surface can be recovered by subsequent thermal annealing after water exposure. A strong electrostatic charging is revealed on the cleavage surface which may facilitate the formation of the observed metastable surface reconstruction.

Original languageEnglish
Article number185306
JournalNanotechnology
Volume23
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - May 11 2012

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