title: Cationic surface reconstructions on cerium oxide nanocrystals: an aberration-corrected HRTEM study.
abstract: Instabilities of nanoscale ceria surface facets are examined on the atomic level. The electron beam and its induced atom migration are proposed as a readily available probe to emulate and quantify functional surface activity, which is crucial for, for example, catalytic performance. In situ phase contrast high-resolution transmission electron microscopy with spherical aberration correction is shown to be the ideal tool to analyze cationic reconstruction. Hydrothermally prepared ceria nanoparticles with particularly enhanced {100} surface exposure are explored. Experimental analysis of cationic reconstruction is supported by molecular dynamics simulations where the Madelung energy is shown to be directly related to the binding energy, which enables one to generate a visual representation of the distribution of "reactive" surface oxygen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK.
authors.forename: Umananda M
authors.initials: UM
authors.lastname: Bhatta
authors.forename: Ian M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Thi X T
authors.initials: TX
authors.lastname: Sayle
authors.forename: Dean C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Sayle
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Sudipta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seal
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Möbus
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D002412:Cations; D002563:Cerium / Q000737:chemistry*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008422:Materials Testing; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Q000379:methods*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D002563:Cerium; C030583:ceric oxide