Nano-ice on boron nitride nanomesh: accessing proton disorder.

Boron Nitride Nanomesh: A template for Nano-ice

Using variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and dI/dz barrier height spectroscopy, the structure of water on h-BN/Rh(111) nanomesh has been investigated. Below its desorption temperature, two distinct phases of water self-assemble within the 3.2 nm unit cell of the nanomesh. In the 2 nm holes, an ordered phase of nano-ice crystals with about 40 molecules is found. The ice crystals ...

Wetting of water on hexagonal boron nitride@Rh(111): a QM/MM model based on atomic charges derived for nano-structured substrates.

The wetting of water on corrugated and flat hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayers on Rh(111) is studied within a hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach. Water is treated by QM methods, whereas the interactions between liquid and substrate are described at the MM level. The electrostatic properties of the substrate are reproduced by assigning specifically generated par...

Hexagonal boron-nitride nanomesh magnets

Corrugated single layer templates for molecules: From h-BN nanomesh to graphene based quantum dot arrays

Functional nano-templates enable self-assembly of otherwise impossible arrangements of molecules. A particular class of such templates is that of sp2 hybridized single layers of hexagonal boron nitride or carbon (graphene) on metal supports. If the substrate and the single layer have a lattice mismatch, superstructures are formed. On substrates like rhodium or ruthenium these superstructures ha...

Investigation of Boron Nitride Nanomesh Interacting with Water

Recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments have shown that, by dosing liquid water to the bare hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanomesh on Rh(111), water dusters can be observed in the nanomesh pores. With the present work, we intend to better understand the nature of the interaction of water with the nanomesh and give indications on the type of structures that have been observed. To...