Nitrogen doping-induced changes in the electronic properties, defect formation, and surface structure of TiO2 rutile(110) and anatase(101) single crystals were investigated. No band gap narrowing is observed, but N doping induces localized N 2p states within the band gap just above the valence band. N is present in a N(III) valence state, which facilitates the formation of oxygen vacancies and Ti 3d band gap states at elevated temperatures. The increased O vacancy formation triggers the 1 x 2 reconstruction of the rutile (110) surface. This thermal instability may degrade the catalyst during applications.

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In addition to composition, the structure of a catalyst is another fundamental determinant of its catalytic reactivity. Recently, anomalous Ti oxide-rich surface phases of ternary oxides have been stabilized as nonstoichiometric epitaxial overlayers. These structures give rise to different modes of oxygen binding, which may lead to different oxidative chemistry. Through density functional theory investigations and electrochemical measurements, we predict and subsequently show that such a TiO2 double-layer surface reconstruction enhances the oxygen evolving activity of the perovskite-type oxide SrTiO3. Our theoretical work suggests that the improved activity of the restructured TiO2(001) surface toward oxygen formation stems from (i) having two Ti sites with distinct oxidation activity and (ii) being able to form a strong O-O moiety (which reduces overbonding at Ti sites), which is a direct consequence of (iii) having a labile lattice O that is able to directly participate in the reaction. Here, we demonstrate the improvement of the catalytic performance of a well-known and well-studied oxide catalyst through more modern methods of materials processing, predicted through first-principles theoretical modeling.

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material gives rise to a range of interesting properties such as superconductivity, [1] high electron mobility, [2,3] ferromagnetism [4,5] and 2D electron gases. [6] In the multitude of the properties exhibited by SrTiO 3 , pyroelectricity, ferroelectricity, and piezoelectricity are markedly absent as these properties are symmetry prohibited in centrosymmetric crystal lattices. The polar phase required for exhibiting these properties can, however, be induced artificially by modification of the lattice. Large biaxial strain, [7] light pulses, [8,9] and elemental substitutions [10] can convert SrTiO 3 into a ferroelectric material, whereas strain gradients can induce a polarization via the flexoelectric effect [11,12] or oxygen vacancies migration. [13] Electron diffraction measurements furthermore show that the top TiO 2 surface layer of SrTiO 3 undergoes surface relaxation and oxygen ions move outward from the surface relative to the titanium ions, leading to a polarization of this layer. [14][15][16] This is supported by shell model and density functional theory calculations. However, the calculations also predict that the SrO layers underneath display a polarization opposite to that of the TiO 2 surface layer, [17][18][19] leaving the question of the predicted net polarization and a possible pyroelectricity at the surface wide open.Symmetry-imposed restrictions on the number of available pyroelectric and piezoelectric materials remain a major limitation as 22 out of 32 crystallographic material classes exhibit neither pyroelectricity nor piezoelectricity. Yet, by breaking the lattice symmetry it is possible to circumvent this limitation. Here, using a unique technique for measuring transient currents upon rapid heating, direct experimental evidence is provided that despite the fact that bulk SrTiO 3 is not pyroelectric, the (100) surface of TiO 2 -terminated SrTiO 3 is intrinsically pyroelectric at room temperature. The pyroelectric layer is found to be ≈1 nm thick and, surprisingly, its polarization is comparable with that of strongly polar materials such as BaTiO 3 . The pyroelectric effect can be tuned ON/OFF by the formation or removal of a nanometric SiO 2 layer. Using density functional theory, the pyroelectricity is found to be a result of polar surface relaxation, which can be suppressed by varying the lattice symmetry breaking using a SiO 2 capping layer. The observation of pyroelectricity emerging at the SrTiO 3 surface also implies that it is intrinsically piezoelectric. These findings may pave the way for observing and tailoring piezo-and pyroelectricity in any material through appropriate breaking of symmetry at surfaces and artificial nanostructures such as heterointerfaces and superlattices. PyroelectricitySrTiO 3 has been the object of immense attention for over half a century owing to its multifunctional nature and popularity as a template for epitaxial growth of artificial nanostructures such as heterostructures, superlattices, and vertically aligned nanostructures. It is a classic example whe...