Deposition of antimony and bismuth onto HOPG
Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite provides an extremely smooth surface on which the fundamental processes involved in diffusion and aggregation of atoms and clusters can be studied. Shelley Scott, as part of her PhD project, has performed extensive studies of the diffusion of both Sb4 tetramers and Bi2 dimers on HOPG.
Shelley Scott working on the UHV deposition apparatus (right)
A few representative images of the structrues formed through diffusion and aggregation of Sb4 units are shown below.
SEM image of a 'nanoflowers' grown by deposition of Sb on HOPG
SEM image of a 'nanoflowers' and a more unusual ramified structure grown by deposition of Sb on HOPG
SEM image of a 'nanoflowers' and a more unusual ramified structure grown by deposition of Sb on HOPG
AFM image of a 'nanoflower' grown by deposition of Sb on HOPG
AFM image of a 'nanoflowers' grown by deposition of Sb on HOPG