Gas–Solid van der Waals Interaction Driving the Dynamic Evolution of Surface Nanostructures

Weak intermolecular forces are ubiquitous in chemistry, materials science, and biology, yet their direct role in gas–solid interfacial phenomena has remained elusive. Here, we show that under millibar-range H 2 O vapor at room temperature, monolayer Au nanoislands on Au(111) undergo pronounced restructuring within seconds through particle migration, coalescence, and Ostwald ripening. The driving force of these rapid dynamics is identified as van der Waals interaction between H 2 O molecules and surface Au atoms via dipole–dipole attraction. This effect is reinforced by the formation of transient H 2 O-adsorbed Au adatom complexes, which lower the energy barrier for atomic detachment and migration. Our findings provide direct atomic-level evidence that weak physical interactions alone can reshape metal nanostructures, offering a new route to engineer the surface architectures under mild conditions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Published
2026-06-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c22700
Primary Topic
2D Materials and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Gas–Solid van der Waals Interaction Driving the Dynamic Evolution of Surface Nanostructures

C B Liu, Qiang Fu, Rentao Mu, Jie Luo et al.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
2D Materials and Applications
article

Gas–Solid van der Waals Interaction Driving the Dynamic Evolution of Surface Nanostructures

C B Liu, Qiang Fu, Rentao Mu, Jie Luo, Wei‐Xue Li, Heng Liang, Yi Ping Cui, Xiang‐Kui Gu, Yifan Li, Hao Li, Qi Wang, Xi Cheng
article en

Abstract

Weak intermolecular forces are ubiquitous in chemistry, materials science, and biology, yet their direct role in gas–solid interfacial phenomena has remained elusive. Here, we show that under millibar-range H 2 O vapor at room temperature, monolayer Au nanoislands on Au(111) undergo pronounced restructuring within seconds through particle migration, coalescence, and Ostwald ripening. The driving force of these rapid dynamics is identified as van der Waals interaction between H 2 O molecules and surface Au atoms via dipole–dipole attraction. This effect is reinforced by the formation of transient H 2 O-adsorbed Au adatom complexes, which lower the energy barrier for atomic detachment and migration. Our findings provide direct atomic-level evidence that weak physical interactions alone can reshape metal nanostructures, offering a new route to engineer the surface architectures under mild conditions.

Journal of the American Chemical Society
University of Science and Technology of China (CN), Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Wuhan University (CN), Hefei University (CN), Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics (CN), Intelligent Health (United Kingdom) (GB), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Nano Carbon (Poland) (PL)
Openalex Percentile: Top 14%
2D Materials and Applications
DOISourceOpenAlex
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Gas–Solid van der Waals Interaction Driving the Dynamic Evolution of Surface Nanostructures — C B Liu, Qiang Fu, et al. · Journal of the American Chemical Society (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS