Self‐Recovery of Carbonate‐Contaminated Strontium Titanate (100) Vicinal Surfaces Imaged by Tip‐Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
Abstract Strontium titanate (SrTiO3) as a model perovskite has significant applications in catalysis, carbon capture, and advanced electronics. On SrO‐terminated (100) surfaces, carbon dioxide (CO2) is a common chemisorption, altering the electronic and chemical properties. This study employed tip‐e...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley-VCH
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Advanced Materials Interfaces |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202401024 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Strontium titanate (SrTiO3) as a model perovskite has significant applications in catalysis, carbon capture, and advanced electronics. On SrO‐terminated (100) surfaces, carbon dioxide (CO2) is a common chemisorption, altering the electronic and chemical properties. This study employed tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) and density functional theory (DFT) simulations to explore this CO2 chemisorption. The (100) surface of SrTiO3 exhibits two distinct terminations, SrO and TiO2 with nominally almost the same heights (0.2 nm). Height scans of hydrothermally treated (100) SrTiO3, show values closer to 0.3 and 0.1 nm, where we attribute the difference in height to the selective adsorption of ambient CO2 on one of the terminations. The TERS analysis shows the presence of a 1071 cm−1 Raman peak (characteristic of carbonate vibration), localized exclusively at the SrO terrace, confirming that CO2 preferentially adsorbs onto SrO. Both experimental and DFT results indicate that this CO2 monolayer alters the binding energy between the SrO and TiO2 terminations. This leads to spontaneous yet slow delamination of SrO and the emergence of SrCO3 nanograins on a purely TiO2‐terminated crystal surface. The interpretation is in quantitative agreement with respective volumes of layers and grains throughout the process. |
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| ISSN: | 2196-7350 |