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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 5: Focus Session: Mineral-water interfaces I

O 5.2: Vortrag

Montag, 9. März 2026, 11:00–11:15, HSZ/0403

Reconstruction of calcite (10.4) manifests itself in the tip-assisted diffusion of water — •Klausfering Lea, Schneider Florian, Bechstein Ralf, and Kühnle Angelika — Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany

Calcite is the most common carbonate in the Earth*s crust and plays a fundamental role in environmental and industrial processes. The most stable cleavage plane of calcite is the (10.4) plane. This surface has already been extensively studied in liquid environments as well as under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions. Under UHV conditions, the surface exhibits a (2 x 1) reconstruction. Due to this reconstruction, there are two energetically different adsorption sites for adsorbates, such as water. Here, we present an atomic force microscopy (AFM) study in which the diffusion of individual water molecules on the calcite (10.4) surface was investigated under UHV conditions at a temperature of 140 K. The positions of individual water molecules could be precisely determined in several consecutive atomically resolved images, allowing the diffusion of the water molecules to be observed. We found that the AFM tip has an influence on the diffusion of the water molecules, but that diffusion only occurs between one type of adsorption positions.

Keywords: Tip-induced manipulation; Tip-induced diffusion; Calcite; Water; Atomic force microscopy