Effect of Graphite Aging on Its Wetting Properties and Surface Blocking by Gaseous Nanodomains.

ABSTRACT: Early works considered basal planes of highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) as hydrophobic, relatively inert materials with low electrocatalytic activity due to nonpolar sp² carbon. On the contrary, a freshly prepared HOPG surface exhibits intrinsically mildly hydrophilic properties, with a low contact angle of water, which increases after exposure to an ambient atmosphere. This process, called aging, ascribed to adsorption of airborne hydrocarbons, is reportedly accompanied by strong decay of electron transfer kinetics, the mechanism of which is not yet fully understood. Examining both freshly prepared and aged basal plane HOPG immersed in water by PeakForce quantitative nanomechanical imaging, we have found that aged HOPG is occupied by ambient gaseous nanodomains, the exi

SUBMITTER: Tarabkova H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10552534 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature