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 arrange in a bilayer honeycomb lattice, where the hydrogen atoms of the lower layer point to the substrate. The phase on the 1 nm wires, is a low density gas phase, which is characterized by contrast modulations and streaky noise in the STM images. Tunneling barrier measurements infer the proton positions in the nano-ice clusters.
@article{arxiv.0908.0875,
title = {Boron Nitride Nanomesh: A template for Nano-ice},
author = {Haifeng Ma and Thomas Brugger and Simon Berner and Yun Ding and Marcella Iannuzzi and Jurg Hutter and Jurg Osterwalder and Thomas Greber},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0908.0875},
year = {2010}
}