Atomic-resolution imaging of rutile TiO₂(110)-(1 × 2) reconstructed surface by non-contact atomic force microscopy

Abstract

The structure of the rutile TiO2(110)-(1 × 2) reconstructed surface is a phase induced by oxygen reduction. There is ongoing debate about the (1 × 2) reconstruction, because it cannot be clarified whether the (1 × 2) structure is formed over a wide area or only locally using macroscopic analysis methods such as diffraction. We used non-contact atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and low-energy electron diffraction at room temperature to characterize the surface. Ti2O3 rows appeared as bright spots in both NC-AFM and STM images observed in the same area. High-resolution NC-AFM images revealed that the rutile TiO2(110)-(1 × 2) reconstructed surface is composed of two domains with different types of asymmetric rows.

The Effect of Reduction and Oxidation Processes on the Work Function of Metal Oxide Crystals: TiO2(110) and SrTiO3(001) Case

“…Cleaning cycles (CC) can be found in most experimental sections of publications concerning this area of research, but this does not mean that the procedure is the same in all laboratories. An analysis of experimental sections of publications shows that the energies of ions differ (0.6 keV [16], 1 keV [60,61], 2 keV [62,63]) as well as types of ions (Ar + [16], Ne + [64]) and temperatures (527 • C [31,62], 727 • C [65], 1027 • C [16]). This method is so widespread that some publications do not even specify the experimental details, such as the energy of ions [66][67][68].…”