Quasi-stabilized hydration layers on muscovite mica under a thin water film grown from humid air

Abstract The interfaces between solids and water films in air play fundamental roles in physicochemical phenomena, biological functions, and nano-fabrication. Though the properties of the interfaces have been considered to be irrelevant to the water film thickness, we found distinctive mechanical fe...

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Autores principales: Toyoko Arai, Kohei Sato, Asuka Iida, Masahiko Tomitori
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2017
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/7b8a8a45d3a84c688f7560cd41ab2bf2
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Sumario:Abstract The interfaces between solids and water films in air play fundamental roles in physicochemical phenomena, biological functions, and nano-fabrication. Though the properties of the interfaces have been considered to be irrelevant to the water film thickness, we found distinctive mechanical features of the interface between a cleaved muscovite mica surface and a thin water film grown in humid air, dissimilar to those in bulk water, using frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy. The thin water film grew with quasi-stabilized hydration networks of water molecules, tightly bound each other at the interface, to a thickness of ~2 nm at near-saturating humidity. Consequently, defective structures of the hydration networks persisted vertically through the hydration layers at the interface, and K+ ions on the cleaved surface remained without dissolution into the water film. The results provide atomistic insights into thin water films in regard to epitaxial-like growth from vapour and the motion of water molecules and ions therein.