Ion, a basic particle in materials science, is a significant research object in the field of rare earth separation, nuclear waste disposal, ionic battery, molecular magnets, illumination, ion channel, etc. The solvation of ions in solution is a key problem in these relevant researches. Yet the complex structure and dynamic nature of solvated ion have impeded the scientific advances in this area for years. A particular interest of our group is the development of universal soft-landing technique to prepare thermal (<1 eV) ions (positive, negative, metal, gas, etc.) on surface. 

    Consequently, the structure, solvation, charging, migration and dynamics of surface ions could be in-situ studied with high spatial and temporal resolution characterization methods.