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In Situ Direct Observation of Adsorption and Desorption on a Single Crystal of 2,4,6-Trinitrophenol (TNP)
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posted on 2012-07-03, 00:00 authored by Alexander Kovalev, Heinz SturmFor the first time, we report the direct observation
of the nanoscale adsorption and desorption of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol
(TNP) molecules on the crystal surface during atomic force microscopy
scanning. Our results reveal the position instability of TNP molecules
at the border of molecular layers under normal ambient conditions.
The observed phenomena are of great interest for exploring the origin
of hot-spot generation on the surface of energetic materials. On the
basis of the explored properties of TNP crystal, a plausible mechanism
of hot-spot formation upon weak initiation at the nanoscale is proposed.