title: Formation and diffusion of oxygen-vacancy pairs on TiO2(110)-(1x1).
abstract: We present the measurements for the diffusion of bridging oxygen vacancy (OV) crossover Ti rows via OV pairs (OVPs). Using a high-resolution scanning tunneling microscope (STM), we show that the OVs can be moved along the bridging oxygen rows driven by the STM tip at voltages higher than 3.0 V on TiO(2)(110)-(1x1) surface. It is found that the combination of OVPs leads to the formation of OVPs, which can diffuse crossover Ti rows under the mediation of OVs in adjacent bridging oxygen rows. The deduced diffusion activation energy for the diffusive OVPs from experiments is in agreement with first-principles calculations. The reaction activation energy of the OVPs with O(2) is lower than that of the OVs by 82 meV.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuefeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jinlong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Hou