Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Studies of Solvent-Deposited Materials on Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite

Abstract

Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) is a new tool for resolving surface topography and electronic states at the atomic level. STM excels over other microscopy techniques in its high lateral and vertical resolutions. Many forms of carbon including diamonds, fullerenes, isotropic porous carbons and glassy carbons have been studied extensively by STM. STM studies of basic carbon materials and surface adsorbed species on these carbon surfaces are essential as a foundation for future nanoscopic work involving more complex materials, such as carbon-carbon composites and coal structures, as well as the advancement of carbon inhibition/gasification technology. Our studies have shown that atomic structure of solvent deposited coal can be revealed and this will help in better understanding of the coal structure. The metal salts deposited on the graphite structure will help in a better understanding of the catalysis in carbon gasification. In this paper we have discussed some of the preliminary work performed on the materials deposited on the highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface.