AFM imaging of the surface of natural heulandite

✍ Scribed by Sadaaki Yamamoto; Shoko Sugiyama; Osamu Matsuoka; Tadatoshi Honda; Yasuyuki Banno; Hisakazu Nozoye

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 873 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1387-1811
• DOI: 10.1016/s1387-1811(97)00012-7

✦ Synopsis

The factors that determine the resolution of the atomic force microscope (AFM ) images of zeolite surfaces were determined by examining the surface of natural heulandite crystals either in deionized water or in a 0.1 N NaOH aqueous solution. Wide-scan imaging of the (100) surface revealed for the first time a crystal growth-induced step structure that corresponds to aluminosilicate layers. Also revealed was what is called bunching (macro-steps composed of several aluminosilicate layers). For the (100) surface, the atomic-scale image revealed the framework composed of TO 4 polyhedrons (where T is either Si or Al ), whereas for the (010) surface the image resolved the hydroxyl groups. This dependence of the image on the surfaces implies that the magnitude of the periodic corrugation on the zeolite surface is a critical factor in the resolution of AFM imaging of zeolites.