Water clustering on nanostructured iron oxide films

Lindsay R. Merte, Ralf Bechstein, Guowen Peng, Felix Rieboldt, Carrie A. Farberow, Helene Zeuthen, Jan Knudsen, Erik Lægsgaard, Stefan Wendt, Manos Mavrikakis () and Flemming Besenbacher ()
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Lindsay R. Merte: Aarhus University
Ralf Bechstein: Aarhus University
Guowen Peng: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Felix Rieboldt: Aarhus University
Carrie A. Farberow: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Helene Zeuthen: Aarhus University
Jan Knudsen: Aarhus University
Erik Lægsgaard: Aarhus University
Stefan Wendt: Aarhus University
Manos Mavrikakis: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Flemming Besenbacher: Aarhus University

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: 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 moiré-structured iron oxide thin film with a controlled density of hydroxyl groups. While large amorphous monolayer islands form on the bare 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 moiré structure.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5193

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