Hydration of iodine adsorbed on the Au(111) surface.

The hydration of halogens has been widely researched because of its close relation with the water desalination and biochemical reactions. In this work, by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we have explored the hydration process of iodine via the Eley-Rideal process on the Au(111) surface. Moreover, the hydration process of iodine with the presence of the NiPc self-assembled network as a template has also been investigated, where the stepwise hydration of iodine at room temperature can be visualized on Au(111).