1] Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark [2] Division of Synchrotron Radiation Research, Lund University, Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden.
1] Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark [2].
Nat Commun. 2014 Jun 30;5:4193. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5193.
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.
水对固体表面的附着力的特点是倾向于平衡竞争的分子-分子和分子-表面相互作用。羟基与水分子形成强氢键，已知它们会极大地影响氧化物表面的润湿性，但人们对这些羟基及其在表面上的分布如何影响界面处的分子尺度结构还不是很了解。在这里，我们报告了一项关于具有受控羟基密度的莫尔结构氧化铁薄膜上水的聚集体的研究。虽然在裸膜上形成了大的无定形单层岛，但羟基氧化铁膜充当亲水纳米模板，导致形成规则的冰状六聚体纳米簇的阵列。这种有序相的形成是局部化在纳米尺度上的；随着水覆盖度的增加，在莫尔结构的相邻羟基化和无羟基区域，发现有序和无定形水共存。
