Aluminum oxide (Al2O3), also known as alumina, corundum, sapphire, or ruby, is one of the best insulators used in a wide range of applications: in electronic components, as a support material for catalysts, or as a chemically resistant ceramic, to name a few.
Aluminum oxide (Al2O3), also known as alumina, corundum, sapphire, or ruby, is one of the best insulators used in a wide range of applications: in electronic components, as a support material for catalysts, or as a chemically resistant ceramic, to name a few.
Knowledge of the precise arrangement of the surface atoms is key to understanding how chemical reactions occur in this material, such as those in catalytic processes. Atoms inside the material follow a fixed arrangement, giving rise to the characteristic shapes of crystals.
On the surface, however, the structure deviates from that inside the crystal. The strongly insulating nature of alumina has hindered experimental studies, and the surface structure evaded precise determination for more than half a century. Researchers at TU Wien and the University of Vienna have now solved the complex structure of the Al2O3 surface, a puzzle listed in 1997 as one of the « three mysteries of surface science. »
The research group led by Jan Balajka and Ulrike Diebold has published its findings in Science.
