Dr. Giada Franceschi

Technical University of Vienna, Austria
Giada Franceschi studied Engineering Physics at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and got her PhD in experimental surface science at the Technical University of Vienna (Austria), focusing on the atomically controlled growth and characterization of complex oxide thin films. During a research stay at the Freie Universität in Berlin (Germany), she investigated the atomic-scale interplay between magnetism and superconductivity in 2D materials. Since 2021 she is a post-doc researcher in the surface science group at the Technical University of Vienna, focusing on the interaction between mineral surfaces and water using non-contact AFM. Her areas of expertise include ultra-high vacuum analysis, scanning probe microscopies, and complex oxide and mineral surfaces.

Talk title: Surfaces of cleaved aluminosilicates at the atomic scale
Aluminosilicates are ubiquitous and play integral roles in many essential processes such as weathering, soil formation, CO₂ sequestration, and atmospheric ice nucleation. A fundamental understanding of these processes requires detailed knowledge about the surfaces of these minerals.

However, accessing the surface details of aluminosilicates is challenging due to their insulating nature. The hurdle has been recently overcome thanks to developments in non-contact atomic force microscopy (ncAFM) in ultra-high vacuum (UHV).

Here, we discuss the insights obtained on UHV-cleaved aluminosilicate surfaces leveraging ncAFM and ab-initio theoretical calculations. We focus on potassium feldspars (KAlSi₃O₈)—widely regarded as efficient ice nucleators in the atmosphere [1]—and explore how their surface chemistry influences their atomic-scale interaction with water [2]. We interpret the results in the context of the available literature on ice nucleation.

This work is supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 883395, Advanced Research Grant ‘WatFun’).

[1] J. D. Atkinson et al., The importance of feldspar for ice nucleation by mineral dust in mixed-phase clouds, Nature 498, 355 (2013).
[2] G. Franceschi et al., How water binds to microcline feldspar (001), J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 15, 15 (2024).