title: Oxygen-mediated diffusion of oxygen vacancies on the TiO2(110) surface.
abstract: Defects such as oxygen vacancies play a crucial role in the surface properties of transition metal oxides. By means of time-resolved, high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy, we unraveled an adsorbate-mediated diffusion mechanism of oxygen vacancies on rutile TiO2(110). Adsorbed oxygen molecules mediate vacancy diffusion through the loss of an oxygen atom to a vacancy and the sequential capture of an oxygen atom from a neighboring bridging oxygen row, leading to an anisotropic oxygen vacancy diffusion pathway perpendicular to the bridging oxygen rows.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy and CAMP, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Renald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schaub
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wahlström
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rønnau
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lagsgaard
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stensgaard
authors.forename: Flemming
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Besenbacher