Influence of graphene exfoliation on the properties of water-containing adlayers visualized by graphenes and scanning force microscopy.

Molecular adlayers on mica have been visualized previously by coating the sample with graphene and imaging it by scanning force microscopy. While it had been argued that this shows that ambient water on mica exhibits ice-like structures, recent apparently similar experiments indicate different behaviors. Here, we demonstrate that adhesive tapes, which are often used to mechanically exfoliate graphenes onto solid substrates, can lead to water-containing adlayers, which differ substantially from pure water layers. We exfoliated graphenes with the aid of different adhesive tapes and demonstrate that the results depend on the particular tape. Our results imply that structure and properties of confined water adlayers can be controlled by minor amounts of additives.