Accurate Atomic-Scale Imaging of Two-Dimensional Lattices Using Atomic Force Microscopy in Ambient Conditions

To facilitate the rapid development of van der Waals materials and heterostructures, scanning probe methods capable of nondestructively visualizing atomic lattices and moiré superlattices are highly desirable. Lateral force microscopy (LFM), which measures nanoscale friction based on the commonly available atomic force microscopy (AFM), can be used for imaging a wide range of two-dimensional (2D) materials, but imaging atomic lattices using this technique is difficult. Here, we examined a number of the common challenges encountered in LFM experiments and presented a universal protocol for obtaining reliable atomic-scale images of 2D materials under ambient environment. By studying a series of LFM images of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), we have found that the accuracy and the contrast of atomic-scale images critically depended on several scanning parameters including the scan size and the scan rate. We applied this protocol to investigate the atomic structure of the ripped and self-folded edges of graphene and have found that these edges were mostly in the armchair direction. This finding is consistent with the results of several simulations results. Our study will guide the extensive effort on assembly and characterization of new 2D materials and heterostructures.