skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Scanning probe microscopy of cleaved molybdates: {alpha}MoO{sub 3}(010), Mo{sub 18}O{sub 52}(100), Mo{sub 8}O{sub 23}(010), and {eta}-Mo{sub 4}O{sub 11}(100)

Journal Article · · Journal of Solid State Chemistry
;  [1]
  1. Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

Scanning probe microscopy was used to examine the cleaved surfaces of four binary molybdates: {alpha}-MoO{sub 3}(101), Mo{sub 18}O{sub 52}(100), Mo{sub 8}O{sub 23}(010), and {eta}-Mo{sub 4}O{sub 11}(100). The Mo{sub 18}O{sub 52}(100) and Mo{sub 8}O{sub 23}(010) surfaces were imaged in air and vacuum using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The contrast associated with two types of surface/crystallographic shear (CS) plane intersections has been unambiguously identified; shear normal to the surface creates a line of vertical relief 1.5 {Angstrom} high and shear in the surface plane creates a line of dark contrast. The contrast from the surface/CS plane intersection arises, in part, from local variations in the electronic properties. These signatures are easily distinguished form features on the fully oxidized {alpha}-MoO{sub 3}(010) surface. STM images of {eta}-Mo{sub 4}O{sub 11}(100) reveal a surface terminated by tetrahedral groups. In each case, the authors find that the atomic-scale contrast can be interpreted based on the arrangement of surface polyhedra that is expected to result from cleavage of the longest, weakest bonds.

OSTI ID:
390902
Journal Information:
Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Vol. 124, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1996
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English