AFM induced diffusion of large scale mobile HOPG defects

Defects on crystal and/or thin film surfaces play an important role in their physical and chemical properties. Diffusion or motion of such structures results in microstructural dynamic changes. The diffusion of single atom/point defects were previously reported, due to the difficulty of observation,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied nanoscience 2019-10, Vol.9 (7), p.1459-1468
Main Authors: Koç, Mümin Mehmet, Ragkousis, Georgios E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atomic force microscopes
Atomic force microscopy
Chemical properties
Chemistry and Materials Science
Crystal defects
Diffusion rate
Domains
High vacuum
Materials Science
Membrane Biology
Microscopes
Nanochemistry
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology and Microengineering
Organic chemistry
Original Article
Point defects
Pyrolytic graphite
Thin films
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Summary:Defects on crystal and/or thin film surfaces play an important role in their physical and chemical properties. Diffusion or motion of such structures results in microstructural dynamic changes. The diffusion of single atom/point defects were previously reported, due to the difficulty of observation, the motion of large-scale defects (the defect consist of multiple missing atoms) using combination of consecutive images has not been possible since today. For the first time, the diffusion of three mobile large-scale highly oriented pyrolytic graphite monolayer defect domains is reported using non-contact atomic force microscopy in ultra-high vacuum conditions. It was suspected that the diffusion of the defects was triggered by the rastering motion of the tip of atomic force microscope. It was evidenced that the diffusion of large defects is shown to be size-dependent, with smaller defects moving with higher speeds than larger defects. The diffusion results fit well with the models previously reported for the diffusion of particles for varying sizes and indicates that the diffusion of defects and particles show similar behaviours.
ISSN:2190-5509
2190-5517
DOI:10.1007/s13204-018-0929-z