Nature Communications (Jan 2020)

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
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-14064-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Water molecular motion on surfaces underpins a range of phenomena in nature. The authors resolve the nanoscale-nanosecond motion of water at a topological insulator’s surface by helium spin-echo spectroscopy and computations, reporting hopping among sites and repulsion between water molecules.