“…Oxides are used to protect the transition metals from corrosion and erosion (9,10). Transition metal oxides have been used in catalysis (11) and electrochemistry (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Various other workers have conducted miscellaneous studies of oxides on the transition metals, i.e., Mo (27), W (28), Nb (29,30), Nb and Zr (31), Zr (32), Ta (33), Ni (34)(35)(36), Pt (37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47), Pt and Pd (48), Pd (49,50), Rh and Ir (51), Nb, Th, W, U, and Co (52), and Nb, U, V, Ti, Zr, and Ta (53).…”