A visual guide to surface structure

Explore crystal surfaces and adsorption sites.

Explore how six cubic, hexagonal, and tetragonal crystal structures are cut, which atomic patterns appear at their surfaces, and where adsorbates can bind.

Explore common surfaces How a surface is formed

Compare

Common surfaces

Move across FCC, BCC, HCP, SC, SH, and BCT, from close-packed planes to stepped and open facets, with the same visual language throughout.

Understand

Core concepts

Follow the cut from bulk FCC to a two-dimensional surface cell, then place adsorption sites and build a slab.