Nanoscopic diffusion of water on a topological insulator

Anton Tamtögl; Marco Sacchi; Nadav Avidor; Irene Calvo-Almazán; Peter S.M. Townsend; Martin Bremholm; Philip Hofmann; John Ellis; William Allison

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-14064-7

Nanoscopic diffusion of water on a topological insulator

Anton Tamtögl^*, Marco Sacchi, Nadav Avidor, Irene Calvo-Almazán, Peter S.M. Townsend, Martin Bremholm, Philip Hofmann, John Ellis, William Allison

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

The microscopic motion of water is a central question, but gaining experimental information about the interfacial dynamics of water in fields such as catalysis, biophysics and nanotribology is challenging due to its ultrafast motion, and the complex interplay of inter-molecular and molecule-surface interactions. Here we present an experimental and computational study of the nanoscale-nanosecond motion of water at the surface of a topological insulator (TI), Bi₂Te₃. Understanding the chemistry and motion of molecules on TI surfaces, while considered a key to design and manufacturing for future applications, has hitherto been hardly addressed experimentally. By combining helium spin-echo spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, we are able to obtain a general insight into the diffusion of water on Bi₂Te₃. Instead of Brownian motion, we find an activated jump diffusion mechanism. Signatures of correlated motion suggest unusual repulsive interactions between the water molecules. From the lineshape broadening we determine the diffusion coefficient, the diffusion energy and the pre-exponential factor.

Original language	English
Article number	278
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	11
Issue	1
Number of pages	9
ISSN	2041-1723
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-14064-7
Publication status	Published - 2020

Access to Document

10.1038/s41467-019-14064-7Licence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{eb462b9c90d547a0a05e97cee9e8d812,

title = "Nanoscopic diffusion of water on a topological insulator",

abstract = "The microscopic motion of water is a central question, but gaining experimental information about the interfacial dynamics of water in fields such as catalysis, biophysics and nanotribology is challenging due to its ultrafast motion, and the complex interplay of inter-molecular and molecule-surface interactions. Here we present an experimental and computational study of the nanoscale-nanosecond motion of water at the surface of a topological insulator (TI), Bi2Te3. Understanding the chemistry and motion of molecules on TI surfaces, while considered a key to design and manufacturing for future applications, has hitherto been hardly addressed experimentally. By combining helium spin-echo spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, we are able to obtain a general insight into the diffusion of water on Bi2Te3. Instead of Brownian motion, we find an activated jump diffusion mechanism. Signatures of correlated motion suggest unusual repulsive interactions between the water molecules. From the lineshape broadening we determine the diffusion coefficient, the diffusion energy and the pre-exponential factor.",

author = "Anton Tamt{\"o}gl and Marco Sacchi and Nadav Avidor and Irene Calvo-Almaz{\'a}n and Townsend, {Peter S.M.} and Martin Bremholm and Philip Hofmann and John Ellis and William Allison",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-019-14064-7",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Nanoscopic diffusion of water on a topological insulator

AU - Tamtögl, Anton

AU - Sacchi, Marco

AU - Avidor, Nadav

AU - Calvo-Almazán, Irene

AU - Townsend, Peter S.M.

AU - Bremholm, Martin

AU - Hofmann, Philip

AU - Ellis, John

AU - Allison, William

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - The microscopic motion of water is a central question, but gaining experimental information about the interfacial dynamics of water in fields such as catalysis, biophysics and nanotribology is challenging due to its ultrafast motion, and the complex interplay of inter-molecular and molecule-surface interactions. Here we present an experimental and computational study of the nanoscale-nanosecond motion of water at the surface of a topological insulator (TI), Bi2Te3. Understanding the chemistry and motion of molecules on TI surfaces, while considered a key to design and manufacturing for future applications, has hitherto been hardly addressed experimentally. By combining helium spin-echo spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, we are able to obtain a general insight into the diffusion of water on Bi2Te3. Instead of Brownian motion, we find an activated jump diffusion mechanism. Signatures of correlated motion suggest unusual repulsive interactions between the water molecules. From the lineshape broadening we determine the diffusion coefficient, the diffusion energy and the pre-exponential factor.

AB - The microscopic motion of water is a central question, but gaining experimental information about the interfacial dynamics of water in fields such as catalysis, biophysics and nanotribology is challenging due to its ultrafast motion, and the complex interplay of inter-molecular and molecule-surface interactions. Here we present an experimental and computational study of the nanoscale-nanosecond motion of water at the surface of a topological insulator (TI), Bi2Te3. Understanding the chemistry and motion of molecules on TI surfaces, while considered a key to design and manufacturing for future applications, has hitherto been hardly addressed experimentally. By combining helium spin-echo spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, we are able to obtain a general insight into the diffusion of water on Bi2Te3. Instead of Brownian motion, we find an activated jump diffusion mechanism. Signatures of correlated motion suggest unusual repulsive interactions between the water molecules. From the lineshape broadening we determine the diffusion coefficient, the diffusion energy and the pre-exponential factor.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077863135&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-019-14064-7

DO - 10.1038/s41467-019-14064-7

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31937778

AN - SCOPUS:85077863135

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 11

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

M1 - 278

ER -

Nanoscopic diffusion of water on a topological insulator

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this