Scanning probe microscopy articles within Nature Materials

Featured

  • Article |

    The authors combine laser excitation and scanning tunnelling spectroscopy to visualize the electron and hole distributions in photoexcited moiré excitons in twisted bilayer WS2. This photocurrent tunnelling microscopy approach enables the study of photoexcited non-equilibrium moiré phenomena at atomic scales.

    • Hongyuan Li
    • , Ziyu Xiang
    •  & Feng Wang

  • Article |

    Non-classical crystallization may proceed through formation of intermediate phases, but it is not known whether these are linked to the final crystallization. Here, using an atomic force microscope at 90 bar, brucite carbonation is directly observed, with an amorphous intermediate acting as the seed for crystalline nesquehonite.

    • Xin Zhang
    • , Alan S. Lea
    •  & Kevin M. Rosso

  • News & Views |

    Line defects in two-dimensional borophene can self-assemble into new crystalline phases, blurring the distinctions between perfect and defective crystal.

    • Arkady V. Krasheninnikov

  • News & Views |

    Cysts were generated from organoids in vitro and the removal of adherent cues was shown to play a key role in polycystic kidney disease progression. These cysts resembled those of diseased tissue phenotypically and were capable of remodelling their microenvironment.

    • Paola Romagnani

  • News & Views |

    Energy-favoured grain rotation in nanocrystalline metals is shown to cause surface roughness at the atomic scale, providing fundamental insight for grain boundary engineering in materials design.

    • Jakob Schiøtz
    •  & Karsten W. Jacobsen

  • Article |

    The interaction of water with TiO2 is crucial for applications such as photocatalytic water splitting. The interfacial structure between water and rutile TiO2 is now shown to consist of an array of hydroxyl molecules with water in the second layer.

    • H. Hussain
    • , G. Tocci
    •  & G. Thornton

  • Article |

    The interaction between perovskite oxides and water can have a significant influence on practical performance. Here the authors study the dynamics of surface water adsorption and hydroxide formation during monolayer formation on a ruthenate.

    • Daniel Halwidl
    • , Bernhard Stöger
    •  & Ulrike Diebold

  • News & Views |

    Using a scanning tunnelling microscopy-based method it is now possible to get an atomistic-level description of the most probable binding and contact configuration for single-molecule electrical junctions.

    • Richard J. Nichols
    •  & Simon J. Higgins

  • Article |

    Resolving the internal structure of water molecules adsorbed on solid surfaces is challenging. Submolecular-resolution imaging of individual water monomers and tetramers on NaCl(001) films supported by a Au(111) substrate is now reported. The molecular orbitals of adsorbed water were directly visualized, which lead to the discrimination between the orientation of the monomers and the tetramers H-bond directionality.

    • Jing Guo
    • , Xiangzhi Meng
    •  & Ying Jiang

  • Letter |

    The so-called pseudogap is a feature of high-Tc superconductors that has puzzled scientists since its discovery. It is of widespread opinion that this feature is associated with a structural symmetry breaking. Now, a highly sensitive scanning tunnelling microscopy experiment shows that a specific structural symmetry is not, as many believed, at the origin of the pseudogap state.

    • Ilija Zeljkovic
    • , Elizabeth J. Main
    •  & Jennifer E. Hoffman

  • Article |

    The relay mechanism in which hydrogen atom transfer occurs along hydrogen bonds plays a crucial role in many functional compounds. Using a scanning tunnelling microscope, the transfer of hydrogen atoms along hydrogen-bonded chains assembled on a Cu(110) surface is shown to be controllable and reversible.

    • T. Kumagai
    • , A. Shiotari
    •  & H. Ueba

  • Letter |

    Using boron nitride as a substrate for graphene has been suggested as a promising way to reduce the disorder in graphene caused by space fluctuations. It is now shown by scanning tunnelling microscopy that graphene conforms perfectly to boron nitride and the charge fluctuations are minimal compared with the conventionally used substrate, silica. Boron nitride could really be the natural graphene substrate.

    • Jiamin Xue
    • , Javier Sanchez-Yamagishi
    •  & Brian J. LeRoy

  • Letter |

    Why does the bandgap in semiconducting carbon nanotubes depend on the way it is measured? It is now shown that the results obtained by scanning tunnelling spectroscopy are usually influenced by screening, which creates the discrepancy with optical measurements. The results highlight the importance of many-body effects in the electronic properties of carbon nanotubes.

    • H. Lin
    • , J. Lagoute
    •  & S. Rousset

Browse broader subjects

Browse Scanning probe microscopy across other nature.com journals