Subsurface cation vacancy stabilization of the magnetite (001) surface

Bliem R, Mcdermott E, Ferstl P, Setvin M, Gamba O, Pavelec J, Schneider MA, Schmid M, Diebold U, Blaha P, Hammer L, Parkinson GS (2014)


Publication Language: English

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2014

Journal

Publisher: AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE

Book Volume: 346

Pages Range: 1215-1218

Journal Issue: 6214

DOI: 10.1126/science.1260556

Abstract

Iron oxides play an increasingly prominent role in heterogeneous catalysis, hydrogen production, spintronics, and drug delivery. The surface or material interface can be performance-limiting in these applications, so it is vital to determine accurate atomic-scale structures for iron oxides and understand why they form. Using a combination of quantitative low-energy electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, and density functional theory calculations, we show that an ordered array of subsurface iron vacancies and interstitials underlies the well-known (root 2 x root 2)R45 degrees reconstruction of Fe3O4(001). This hitherto unobserved stabilization mechanism occurs because the iron oxides prefer to redistribute cations in the lattice in response to oxidizing or reducing environments. Many other metal oxides also achieve stoichiometry variation in this way, so such surface structures are likely commonplace.

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APA:

Bliem, R., Mcdermott, E., Ferstl, P., Setvin, M., Gamba, O., Pavelec, J.,... Parkinson, G.S. (2014). Subsurface cation vacancy stabilization of the magnetite (001) surface. Science, 346(6214), 1215-1218. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1260556

MLA:

Bliem, R., et al. "Subsurface cation vacancy stabilization of the magnetite (001) surface." Science 346.6214 (2014): 1215-1218.

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