The atomically ultrasmooth surfaces with atomic steps of sapphire substrates were obtained by annealing in air at temperatures between 1000 and 1400 °C. The terrace width and atomic step height of the ultrasmooth surfaces were controlled on an atomic scale by changing the annealing conditions and the crystallographic surface of substrates. The obtained ultrasmooth surface was stable in air. The topmost atomic structure of the terrace was examined quantitatively by atomic force microscopy and ion scattering spectroscopy as well as a theoretical approach using molecular dynamics simulations.

Coronary-artery thrombi play an important part in the pathogenesis of unstable angina and acute myocardial infarction. However, the appearance of the thrombi is different in the two conditions, possibly reflecting differences in the composition of age of the thrombi or the presence or absence of blood flow in the artery. This difference may account for the contrasting results of thrombolytic therapy.

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In this work, we theoretically investigated the friction mechanism of hexagonal MoS(2) (a well-known lamellar compound) using a computational chemistry method. First, we determined several parameters for molecular dynamics simulations via accurate quantum chemistry calculations and MoS(2) and MoS(2-x)O(x) structures were successfully reproduced. We also show that the simulated Raman spectrum and peak shift on X-ray diffraction patterns were in good agreement with those of experiment. The atomic interactions between MoS(2) sheets were studied by using a hybrid quantum chemical/classical molecular dynamics method. We found that the predominant interaction between two sulfur layers in different MoS(2) sheets was Coulombic repulsion, which directly affects the MoS(2) lubrication. MoS(2) sheets adsorbed on a nascent iron substrate reduced friction further due to much larger Coulombic repulsive interactions. Friction for the oxygen-containing MoS(2) sheets was influenced by not only the Coulomb repulsive interaction but also the atomic-scale roughness of the MoS(2)/MoS(2) sliding interface.