Self-limiting growth on dolomite: Experimental observations with in situ atomic force microscopy

Nanoscale anglesite growth on the celestite (001) face

“…(3), we obtain a specific total strain energy of 11.4 ± 0.6 mJ/m 2 . This value is similar to that obtained by Higgins and Hu [14] for the first monolayer formed on dolomite (104) surfaces. These authors conducted a series of AFM experiments to study the growth behaviour of the first two monolayers on dolomite surfaces and observed that, once the first monolayer was formed, the growth of a second monolayer was slow and subsequent layer-by-layer growth was highly inhibited even at high supersaturations.…”

“…Thus, when a third monolayer reaches the strained area, growth is inhibited and the shapes of the original celestite etch pits are reproduced. The reproduction of such surface features on a nanoscale after monolayer growth is a common phenomenon observed in a number of experimental systems; it is often referred to as the template effect [14][15][16][17]. Although a conclusive explanation has not been reported yet, the template effect is often qualitatively explained by invoking compositional inhomogenities and their related lattice strains [12,14].…”

A high-pressure atomic force microscope for imaging in supercritical carbon dioxide

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Similar studies have provided detailed information for quartz, 11,12 periclase, 13 and dolomite. 14 The ability to image in situ in real-time has always been desirable for its advantage of eliminating the need to alter experimental conditions between images. For a number of mineral systems (e.g., oxides and silicates), rates of dissolution and growth reactions at room temperature are too slow to be measured by conventional in situ atomic force microscope (AFM) instrumentation.…”

High resolution imaging of the dolomite (104) cleavage surface by atomic force microscopy

“…Although dolomite and calcite are structurally very similar, their reactivity in aqueous environments is remarkably different. While calcite (104) surfaces easily dissolve in water and grow from supersaturated solutions, the dissolution of dolomite (104) surfaces is slow and their growth from supersaturated solutions has fOlll1d to be strongly inhibited [10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…Higgins and Hu [14] have shown that continuous layer-by-layer growth from supersaturated solutions with respect to dolomite is inhibited on dolomite (104) after the formation of the first two monolayers. These authors attributed such a self inhibiting growth to structural and/or compositional differences in the first dolomite mono layers.…”