Surface chemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light-controlled gating of ion transport across membranes occurs in nature via channelrhodopsin nanochannels. Here, the authors show facile non-covalent approach towards light-responsive biomimetic nanochannels using host–guest interactions between a negative pillararene host and a positive azobenzene guest.

    • Yue Sun
    • , Junkai Ma
    •  & Haibing Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Antiaromatic molecules are predicted to have unusual charge transport properties, but are notoriously unstable and reactive. Here, the authors successfully fabricate an antiaromatic molecular circuit, based on a macrocyclic complex, displaying much higher conductance than its aromatic counterpart.

    • Shintaro Fujii
    • , Santiago Marqués-González
    •  & Manabu Kiguchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single molecular machines are capable of a variety of functions, but methods to couple motion between them are still lacking. Here, Wasioet al. report the emergent behaviour of spontaneously formed two-dimensional crystals, which display correlated switching of their sub-molecular rotor units.

    • Natalie A. Wasio
    • , Diana P. Slough
    •  & E. Charles H. Sykes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ion exchange at charged mineral-water interfaces is an important geochemical process, but a molecular-level understanding is still required. Here, the authors probe real-time variations of the interfacial ion exchange dynamics at the muscovite-water interface, providing a general picture of adsorbed ion coverage and speciation.

    • Sang Soo Lee
    • , Paul Fenter
    •  & Neil C. Sturchio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanoscopic water droplets in a hydrophobic liquid are abundant in the earth, our bodies and the sky. Here, it is shown that the surface of such a droplet has stronger hydrogen bonds than a planar interface of water and a hydrophobic liquid, equivalent to a 50 K reduction of the surface temperature.

    • Nikolay Smolentsev
    • , Wilbert J. Smit
    •  & Sylvie Roke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rational design of heterogeneous catalysts requires molecular understanding of catalytic processes. Here, the authors attach PtFe and Pd nanocatalysts to Raman signal-enhancing Au-silica nanoparticles, allowing them to spectroscopically observe the active species and bonds involved in CO oxidation in real time.

    • Hua Zhang
    • , Chen Wang
    •  & Zhong-Qun Tian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic functionalization is key to the development of graphene-based functional composites, yet selective covalent functionalization is hindered by graphene chemical inertness. Here, the authors demonstrate a versatile route to graphene covalent bonding with amino-terminated organic molecules.

    • Rebeca A. Bueno
    • , José I. Martínez
    •  & José A. Martín-Gago

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The rotational orientation of a molecule plays a fundamental role in molecule-surface collisions, yet is difficult to study. Here, the authors present a general approach for controlling and resolving molecular rotational orientation and apply it to study H2scattering from flat and stepped copper surfaces.

    • Oded Godsi
    • , Gefen Corem
    •  & Gil Alexandrowicz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electronegativity is a fundamental concept in chemistry; however it is an elusive quantity to evaluate experimentally. Here, the authors estimate the Pauling electronegativity of individual atoms on a surface via atomic force microscopy using a variety of chemically reactive tips.

    • Jo Onoda
    • , Martin Ondráček
    •  & Yoshiaki Sugimoto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling surface wettability using visible light is highly attractive for a range of liquid separation technologies. Here, Varanasi, McKinley and colleagues fabricate dye-sensitized photocatalytic TiO2surfaces on which liquid droplet motion can be externally manipulated by visible light illumination.

    • Gibum Kwon
    • , Divya Panchanathan
    •  & Kripa K. Varanasi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite recent technological advances, it remains challenging to realize reversible high-areal-capacity lithium metal anodes. Here, the authors demonstrate such an anode by tailoring the top solid electrolyte interphase layer.

    • Hui Wang
    • , Masaki Matsui
    •  & Nobuyuki Imanishi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The next level of miniaturization of electronic circuits calls for a connection between current single-molecule and traditional semiconductor processing technologies. Here, the authors show a method to prepare metal/molecule/silicon diodes that present high current rectification ratios exceeding 4,000.

    • Albert C. Aragonès
    • , Nadim Darwish
    •  & Ismael Díez-Pérez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    On-surface synthesis, in which molecular units assemble and couple on a defined surface, can access rare reaction pathways and products. Here, the authors synthesize functionalized organic nanoribbons on the Ag(110) surface, and monitor the evolution of the covalent reactions by an unorthodox vibrational spectroscopy approach.

    • Nataliya Kalashnyk
    • , Kawtar Mouhat
    •  & Sylvain Clair

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantitative understanding of the spatial localization of hot carriers has been elusive. Here Corteset al. spatially map hot-electron-driven reduction chemistry with 15 nm resolution as a function of time and electromagnetic field polarization for different plasmonic nanostructures.

    • Emiliano Cortés
    • , Wei Xie
    •  & Stefan A. Maier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling the self-assembly of oligothiophene complexes that are used in multi-functional thin films can be challenging. Here the authors show a hierarchy of non-covalent interactions for robust self-assembly that orders Saturn-like complexes of fullerenes with oligothiophene macrocycles.

    • José D. Cojal González
    • , Masahiko Iyoda
    •  & Jürgen P. Rabe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Smaller nanostructures often have higher activities, but at the expense of losing chemical stability. Here, the authors find that reducing the size of FeO nanostructures to below 3 nm enhances their resistance to oxidation, and attribute this unexpected observation to a size-dependent, structural dynamics effect.

    • Yun Liu
    • , Fan Yang
    •  & Xinhe Bao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Earth abundant transition metal oxides show great promise as catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. Here, the authors reveal a self-assisted water dissociation mechanism and favourable theoretical adsorption energetics for water oxidation at the edge sites of cobalt oxide nano-islands.

    • J. Fester
    • , M. García-Melchor
    •  & J. V. Lauritsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ostwald ripening is thermodynamically favoured in many liquid and gas systems, where small particles tend to dissolve into large ones. Against this effect, Huanget al. use patterned microstructures to guide the evolution of two-dimensional liquid foams as a platform for the assembly of nanoparticles.

    • Zhandong Huang
    • , Meng Su
    •  & Yanlin Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid-state NMR can in principle be used to study calcium environments in biomaterials such as bones/teeth, but43Ca lacks receptivity. Here the authors present an approach to acquire 43Ca data for hydroxyapatite at its natural isotopic abundance, distinguishing between core and surface Ca sites.

    • Daniel Lee
    • , César Leroy
    •  & Gaël De Paëpe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Probing the polarization of water molecules at charged interfaces reveals insights into surface behaviour, but current methods are limited to isotropic materials. Here the authors exploit the nonlinear optical properties of the α-quartz/water interface to expand the scope of such methods to non-isotropic materials.

    • Paul E. Ohno
    • , Sarah A. Saslow
    •  & Kenneth B. Eisenthal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anti-icing surfaces are useful in our daily life, but creation of these surfaces at low temperatures remains challenging due to the onset of heterogeneous nucleation. Irajizad et al. show a surface design using magnetic fluid that lowers the freezing temperature to −34 °C and ice adhesion strength to 2 Pa.

    • Peyman Irajizad
    • , Munib Hasnain
    •  & Hadi Ghasemi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlled preparation of few-layer graphene is a promising, yet challenging technological protocol. Here, the authors perform real-time imaging during chemical vapour deposition growth and hydrogen etching, to gain insight into layer-dependent growth mechanisms and graphene-substrate interaction.

    • Zhu-Jun Wang
    • , Jichen Dong
    •  & Marc-Georg Willinger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The efficiency of a catalyst relies on the stability of intermediates on its surface. Here, the authors find that van der Waals interactions between acetate adsorbates on Au(110) provide a small but necessary energy contribution to stabilize the acetate and drive restructuring of the Au surface.

    • Fanny Hiebel
    • , Bonggeun Shong
    •  & Cynthia M. Friend

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecules on a metal surface may be modified by the presence of oxide layers, but further mechanistic understanding is still required. Here the authors show for methanol on rutile TiO2(110) that strongly bonded adsorbates lift surface relaxations, leading to substrate-mediated interaction between adsorbates.

    • David Silber
    • , Piotr M. Kowalski
    •  & Christof Wöll

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The charge injected from the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope quickly spreads across the surface and can manipulate distant adsorbates. Here, the authors use this nonlocal manipulation to probe the ultrafast ballistic dynamics and coherent evolution of the injected charge carrier.

    • K. R. Rusimova
    • , N. Bannister
    •  & P. A. Sloan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The electrochemical double layer is a key concept in chemistry, but its properties are hard to probe experimentally. Here, the authors use ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to probe the electrochemical double layer potential profile at the solid/liquid interface, under polarization conditions.

    • Marco Favaro
    • , Beomgyun Jeong
    •  & Ethan J. Crumlin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding degradation of platinum catalysts during oxygen reduction is vital for improving proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. Here, the authors identify intermediate stages in the oxidation of Pt(111) and Pt(100) in perchloric acid using in situshell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

    • Yi-Fan Huang
    • , Patricia J. Kooyman
    •  & Marc T. M. Koper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal oxides can suppress detrimental polysulfide shuttling in lithium-sulfur batteries, however selection criteria for oxide materials are still lacking. Here, the authors investigate polysulfide adsorption and diffusion on metal oxides and propose selection criteria based on balancing these two effects.

    • Xinyong Tao
    • , Jianguo Wang
    •  & Yi Cui

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Systematic variation of surface sites may allow for more efficient testing of surface chemical reactions. Here, the authors use a platinum curved crystal and, by carrying out photoemission scans, are able to systematically address the fundamental CO-chemisorption process on a ‘tunable’ vicinal surface.

    • Andrew L. Walter
    • , Frederik Schiller
    •  & J. Enrique Ortega

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Technical difficulties have so far limited the application of high-resolution secondary-electron microscopy in imaging surface structures. Here, the authors report a successful determination of surface reconstruction of strontium titanate, using the secondary-electron microscopy along with other techniques.

    • J. Ciston
    • , H. G. Brown
    •  & L. D. Marks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The self-assembly of anisotropic nanoparticles into large-area superlattices remains challenging. Here the authors exploit surface chemistry to tune the wettability of silver nano-octahedra, and direct a continuous superlattice structural evolution, from close-packed to progressively open structures.

    • Yih Hong Lee
    • , Wenxiong Shi
    •  & Xing Yi Ling

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Formation of stable and uniform self-assembled monolayers on surfaces is a prerequisite for bottom-up fabrication of many organic molecular devices. Here, the authors present a fabrication approach based on desilylation chemistry for modification and functionalization on various metal and carbon surfaces.

    • Yongchun Fu
    • , Songjie Chen
    •  & Shi-Xia Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The long term durability of silicate glasses is of significant importance, not least due to applications in nuclear waste repositories. Here, the authors study glass corrosion and show that its rate drops as a passivating layer forms via a self-healing mechanism.

    • Stéphane Gin
    • , Patrick Jollivet
    •  & Thibault Charpentier

  • Article |

    Particulate matter pollution is a public health concern in industrialized and urban areas. Here, the authors control the surface chemistry and microstructure of filtration materials to fabricate effective and transparent air filters for the capture of PM2.5pollutants.

    • Chong Liu
    • , Po-Chun Hsu
    •  & Yi Cui

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Surface strain affects the performance of catalysts. Here, the authors present computational evidence that mechanical strain of late transition metals can modify binding energies at stepped surfaces through a mechanical energy contribution yielding chemical trends unique from the established d-band model.

    • M. F. Francis
    •  & W. A. Curtin

  • Article |

    It remains to be seen if high-Tc superconductors rely on similar Fermi-surface instabilities as their BCS counterparts. Miao et al. study the high-Tc compound LiFe1−xCoxAs with high-resolution ARPES and find a robust gap with Co doping that suggests the order parameter is not tied to such instabilities.

    • H. Miao
    • , T. Qian
    •  & H. Ding

  • Article |

    Interfaces between oxides are known to play a controlling role on the properties of various multicomponent oxide systems. Here, the authors observe via simulations that the dislocation structure around the interface is strongly dependent on the termination chemistry at the interface.

    • Pratik P. Dholabhai
    • , Ghanshyam Pilania
    •  & Blas P. Uberuaga

  • Article |

    Metal-organic frameworks are well studied for mass transfer applications, although rates of mass transfer for similar systems are shown to vary widely, attributed to surface barriers. Here, the authors quantitatively study this phenomenon and demonstrate that surface barriers are not intrinsic to the materials.

    • Lars Heinke
    • , Zhigang Gu
    •  & Christof Wöll

  • Article |

    The surface of complex oxides can show properties very different to the bulk. Here, the authors observe unexpected surface Jahn–Teller ordering on the surface of La5/8Ca3/8MnO3thin films that can be traced to the pattern of oxygen adatoms.

    • Zheng Gai
    • , Wenzhi Lin
    •  & Arthur P. Baddorf

  • Article |

    The organization of ions at solid–liquid interfaces is of interest in many fields, but little information at the nanoscale is available. Here, the authors report atomic-level observations of ordering of ions at surfaces in solutions, which is driven by water instead of the conventional electrostatic correlations.

    • Maria Ricci
    • , Peter Spijker
    •  & Kislon Voïtchovsky

  • Article |

    Atomic manipulation can be used to fabricate unique structures at the atomic level but has previously been limited to conductive surfaces, mainly at low temperatures. Here, the authors present a systematic manipulation on an insulating surface using atomic force microscopy to construct complex patterns.

    • Shigeki Kawai
    • , Adam S. Foster
    •  & Ernst Meyer

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