Monodisperse water clusters grown on the semimetallic Bi(111) surface

All forms of water are essential for life and a wide range of scientific and technological processes. When adsorbed on metal surfaces, water usually forms a variety of clusters with a broad size distribution. Here we report the monodisperse water clusters formed on the semimetallic Bi(111) surface....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2018-10, Vol.98 (16), p.165409, Article 165409
Main Authors: Tu, Yu-Bing, Tao, Min-Long, Sun, Kai, Wang, Zi-Long, Yang, Da-Xiao, Wang, Jun-Zhong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Bonding strength
Clusters
Density functional theory
Hydrogen bonding
Image resolution
Metal surfaces
Size distribution
Water chemistry
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Summary:All forms of water are essential for life and a wide range of scientific and technological processes. When adsorbed on metal surfaces, water usually forms a variety of clusters with a broad size distribution. Here we report the monodisperse water clusters formed on the semimetallic Bi(111) surface. High-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy images combined with density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the monodisperse clusters are built exclusively from hexagonal arrangement of six water molecules with slight buckling. All the water hexamers are oriented at the same direction and reveal the identical motif: three-lobed protrusions at high bias and a trigonal hole at low bias. The monodispersity of cyclic water clusters can be rationalized by the fact that hydrogen bonding is the dominant interaction responsible for water cluster stability on Bi(111). The water hexamer is the most favorable because of the maximum strength of H bonds. The decrease of H bonds (the presence of double acceptors) makes it difficult for water molecules to form a smaller (larger) cluster.
ISSN:2469-9950
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.98.165409