“…However, the contrast mechanism of STM is predominantly related to the density of electronic states; therefore, it might be slightly different from the real-space configuration. , Atomic force microscopy (AFM), as a viable alternative, has been used to provide images at the bond level of molecules and the internal structure of an adsorbate on various surfaces. − In particular, the use of a constant height mode − and a vertical mapping method , are known to provide high-spatial resolution images. For example, a three-dimensional structure of the (1 × 2) reconstructed phase and intrinsic subsurface point defects have been investigated using the constant height mode and vertical mapping method on a rutile TiO 2 (110) surface. However, they are still inadequate for studying three-dimensional metal NCs at atomic resolution because of a slight deformation during scanning. , In addition, the observation of a three-dimensional metal NC on a metal oxide surface has not been carried out experimentally until now, although an atomically resolved metal NC can intrinsically provide the opportunity to fully understand how a metal NC interacts with an oxide surface and performs an extraordinarily strong catalysis on a system. − In this study, we used a detuning imaging (DI) mode that is based on the AFM technique to achieve an atomic scale resolution of images of a Au NC on a rutile TiO 2 (110) surface.…”