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Title: Water Clustering on Nanostructured Iron Oxide Films

Abstract

The adhesion of water to solid surfaces is characterized by the tendency to balance competing molecule–molecule and molecule–surface interactions. Hydroxyl groups form strong hydrogen bonds to water molecules and are known to substantially influence the wetting behaviour of oxide surfaces, but it is not well-understood how these hydroxyl groups and their distribution on a surface affect the molecular-scale structure at the interface. Here we report a study of water clustering on a moire´-structured iron oxide thin film with a controlled density of hydroxyl groups. While large amorphous monolayer islands form on the are film, the hydroxylated iron oxide film acts as a hydrophilic nanotemplate, causing the formation of a regular array of ice-like hexameric nanoclusters. The formation of this ordered phase is localized at the nanometre scale; with increasing water coverage, ordered and amorphous water are found to coexist at adjacent hydroxylated and hydroxyl-free domains of the moire´ structure.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1222128
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Nature Communications, 5:4193
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Nature Communications, 5:4193
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Citation Formats

Merte, L. R., Bechstein, Ralf, Peng, Guowen, Rieboldt, Felix, Farberow, Carrie A., Zeuthen, Helene, Knudsen, Jan, Laegsgaard, E., Wendt, Stefen, Mavrikakis, Manos, and Besenbacher, Fleming. Water Clustering on Nanostructured Iron Oxide Films. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1038/ncomms5193.
Merte, L. R., Bechstein, Ralf, Peng, Guowen, Rieboldt, Felix, Farberow, Carrie A., Zeuthen, Helene, Knudsen, Jan, Laegsgaard, E., Wendt, Stefen, Mavrikakis, Manos, & Besenbacher, Fleming. Water Clustering on Nanostructured Iron Oxide Films. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5193
Merte, L. R., Bechstein, Ralf, Peng, Guowen, Rieboldt, Felix, Farberow, Carrie A., Zeuthen, Helene, Knudsen, Jan, Laegsgaard, E., Wendt, Stefen, Mavrikakis, Manos, and Besenbacher, Fleming. 2014. "Water Clustering on Nanostructured Iron Oxide Films". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5193.
@article{osti_1222128,
title = {Water Clustering on Nanostructured Iron Oxide Films},
author = {Merte, L. R. and Bechstein, Ralf and Peng, Guowen and Rieboldt, Felix and Farberow, Carrie A. and Zeuthen, Helene and Knudsen, Jan and Laegsgaard, E. and Wendt, Stefen and Mavrikakis, Manos and Besenbacher, Fleming},
abstractNote = {The adhesion of water to solid surfaces is characterized by the tendency to balance competing molecule–molecule and molecule–surface interactions. Hydroxyl groups form strong hydrogen bonds to water molecules and are known to substantially influence the wetting behaviour of oxide surfaces, but it is not well-understood how these hydroxyl groups and their distribution on a surface affect the molecular-scale structure at the interface. Here we report a study of water clustering on a moire´-structured iron oxide thin film with a controlled density of hydroxyl groups. While large amorphous monolayer islands form on the are film, the hydroxylated iron oxide film acts as a hydrophilic nanotemplate, causing the formation of a regular array of ice-like hexameric nanoclusters. The formation of this ordered phase is localized at the nanometre scale; with increasing water coverage, ordered and amorphous water are found to coexist at adjacent hydroxylated and hydroxyl-free domains of the moire´ structure.},
doi = {10.1038/ncomms5193},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1222128}, journal = {Nature Communications, 5:4193},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jun 30 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Mon Jun 30 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}