Imaging intrinsic diffusion of bridge-bonded oxygen vacancies on TiO2(110).
We report the first measurements and calculations of the intrinsic mobility of bridge-bonded oxygen (BBO) vacancies on a rutile TiO2(110). The sequences of isothermal (340-420 K) scanning tunneling microscope images show that BBO vacancies migrate along BBO rows. The hopping rate increases exponentially with increasing temperature with an experimental activation energy of 1.15 eV. Density functional theory calculations are in very good agreement giving an energy barrier for hopping of 1.03 eV. Both theory and experiment indicate repulsive interactions between vacancies on a given BBO row.
Zhang
Zhenrong
Z
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Fundamental Sciences Directorate, Chemical Sciences Division, Institute for Interfacial Catalysis, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
Ge
Qingfeng
Q
Li
Shao-Chun
SC
Kay
Bruce D
BD
White
J M
JM
Dohnálek
Zdenek
Z