Oxygen-mediated diffusion of oxygen vacancies on the TiO2(110) surface.
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.
Schaub
Renald
R
Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy and CAMP, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
Wahlström
Erik
E
Rønnau
Anders
A
Lagsgaard
Erik
E
Stensgaard
Ivan
I
Besenbacher
Flemming
F