AFM image to show the dissolution of brucite, Mg(OH)₂

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An exclusive application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) is atom-scale imaging of material surfaces in various environments, e.g., in solutions. This movie, made of a number of successive AFM images at the same area, shows in-situ dissolution of brucite, Mg(OH)₂, on its (001) surface in a solution at pH=5　(the real duration is about 10 minutes). It is understood that the dissolution proceeds by the formation of regular triangular etch-pits (the step height is 0.5nm), and their expansion.
See Kogure and Bando (1998) for the detail. TEM: Hitachi HF-2000 at 200 kV.

(AFM: Digital Instruments NanoScope IIIa with a fluid cell, imaged by contact mode. The experiments and movie were made by Y. Kudoh) DOI: 10.1346/CCMN.2006.0540506