Tip-activated single-atom catalysis: CO oxidation on Au adatom on oxidized rutile TiO2 surface.

Single-atom catalysis of carbon monoxide oxidation on metal-oxide surfaces is crucial for greenhouse recycling, automotive catalysis, and beyond, but reports of the atomic-scale mechanism are still scarce. Here, using scanning probe microscopy, we show that charging single gold atoms on oxidized rutile titanium dioxide surface, both positively and negatively, considerably promotes adsorption of carbon monoxide. No carbon monoxide adsorption is observed on neutral gold atoms. Two different carbon monoxide adsorption geometries on gold atoms are identified. We demonstrate full control over the redox state of adsorbed gold single atoms, carbon monoxide adsorption geometry, and carbon monoxide adsorption/desorption by the atomic force microscopy tip. On charged gold atoms, we activate Eley-Rideal oxidation reaction between carbon monoxide and a neighboring oxygen adatom by the tip. Our results provide unprecedented insights into carbon monoxide adsorption and suggest that the gold dual activity for carbon monoxide oxidation after electron or hole attachment is also the key ingredient in photocatalysis under realistic conditions.

Imaging the surface potential at the steps on the rutile TiO2(110) surface by Kelvin probe force microscopy.

Although step structures have generally been considered to be active sites, their role on a TiO2 surface in catalytic reactions is poorly understood. In this study, we measured the contact potential difference around the steps on a rutile TiO2(110)-(1 × 1) surface with O2 exposure using Kelvin probe force microscopy. A drop in contact potential difference was observed at the steps, indicating that the work function locally decreased. Moreover, for the first time, we found that the drop in contact potential difference at a <1-11> step was larger than that at a <001> step. We propose a model for interpreting the surface potential at the steps by combining the upward dipole moment, in analogy to the Smoluchowski effect, and the local dipole moment of surface atoms. This local change in surface potential provides insight into the important role of the steps in the catalytic reaction.

Tip-Induced Control of Charge and Molecular Bonding of Oxygen Atoms on the Rutile TiO2 (110) Surface with Atomic Force Microscopy.

We study a low-temperature on-surface reversible chemical reaction of oxygen atoms to molecules in ultrahigh vacuum on the semiconducting rutile TiO2(110)-(1 × 1) surface. The reaction is activated by charge transfer from two sources, natural surface/subsurface polarons and experimental Kelvin probe force spectroscopy as a tool for electronic charge manipulation with single electron precision. We demonstrate a complete control over the oxygen species not attainable previously, allowing us to deliberately discriminate in favor of charge or bond manipulation, using either direct charge injection/removal through the tip-oxygen adatom junction or indirectly via polarons. Comparing our ab initio calculations with experiment, we speculate that we may have also manipulated the spin on the oxygens, allowing us to deal with the singlet/triplet complexities associated with the oxygen molecule formation. We show that the manipulation outcome is fully governed by three experimental parameters, vertical and lateral tip positions and the bias voltage.

Raman Activity of Multilayer Phosphorene under Strain.

Using computational tools, we study the behavior of activities of lattice vibrational Raman modes in few-layered phosphorene of up to four layers subjected to a uniaxial strain of -2 to +6% applied in the armchair and zigzag directions. We study both high- and low-frequency modes and find very appreciable frequency shifts in response to the applied strain of up to ≈20 cm-1. The Raman activities are characterized by Ag 2/Ag 1 activity ratios, which provide very meaningful characteristics of functionalization via layer- and strain-engineering. The ratios exhibit a pronounced vibrational anisotropy, namely a linear increase with the applied armchair strain and a highly nonlinear behavior with a strong drop of the ratio with the strain applied along the zigzag direction. For the low-frequency modes, which are Raman active exclusively in few-layered systems, we find the breathing interlayer modes of primary importance due to their strong activities. For few-layered structures with a thickness ≥4, a splitting of the breathing modes into a pair of modes with complementary activities is found, with the lower frequency mode being strain activated. Our calculated database of results contains full angular information on activities of both low- and high-frequency Raman modes. These results, free of experimental complexities, such as dielectric embedding, defects, and size and orientation of the flakes, provide a convenient benchmark for experiments. Combined with high-spatial-resolution Raman scattering experiments, our calculated results will aid in the understanding of the complicated inhomogeneous strain distributions in few-layered phosphorene or the manufacture of materials with desired electronic properties via strain- or layer-engineering.

Measurement and Manipulation of the Charge State of an Adsorbed Oxygen Adatom on the Rutile TiO2(110)-1×1 Surface by nc-AFM and KPFM.

For the first time, the charge states of adsorbed oxygen adatoms on the rutile TiO2(110)-1×1 surface are successfully measured and deliberately manipulated by a combination of noncontact atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy at 78 K under ultrahigh vacuum and interpreted by extensive density functional theory modeling. Several kinds of single and double oxygen adatom species are clearly distinguished and assigned to three different charge states: Oad-/2Oad-, Oad2-/2Oad2-, and Oad--Oad2-, i.e., formal charges of either one or two electrons per atom. Because of the strong atomic-scale image contrast, these states are clearly resolved. The observations are supported by measurements of the short-range force and local contact potential difference as a function of the tip-sample distance as well as simulations. Comparison with the simulations suggests subatomic resolution by allowing us to resolve the rotated oxygen p orbitals. In addition, we manage to reversibly switch the charge states of the oxygen adatoms between the Oad- and Oad2- states, both individually and next to another oxygen, by modulating the frequency shift at constant positive voltage during both charging and discharging processes, i.e., by the tip-induced electric field of one orientation. This work provides a novel route for the investigation of the charge state of the adsorbates and opens up novel prospects for studying transition-metal-oxide-based catalytic reactions.

Limitations of Structural Superlubricity: Chemical Bonds versus Contact Size.

Structural superlubricity describes the state of virtually frictionless sliding if two atomically flat interfaces are incommensurate, that is, they share no common periodicity. Despite the exciting prospects of this low friction phenomenon, there are physical limitations to the existence of this state. Theory predicts that the contact size is one fundamental limit, where the critical size threshold mainly depends on the interplay between lateral contact compliance and interface interaction energies. Here we provide experimental evidence for this size threshold by measuring the sliding friction force of differently sized antimony particles on MoS2. We find that superlubric sliding with the characteristic linear decrease of shear stress with contact size prevails for small particles with contact areas below 15 000 nm2. Larger particles, however, show a transition toward constant shear stress behavior. In contrast, Sb particles on graphite show superlubricity over the whole size range. Ab initio simulations reveal that the chemical interaction energies for Sb/MoS2 are much stronger than for Sb/HOPG and can therefore explain the different friction properties as well as the critical size thresholds. These limitations must be considered when designing low friction contacts based on structural superlubricity concepts.

Interplay of the tip-sample junction stability and image contrast reversal on a Cu(111) surface revealed by the 3D force field.

Non-contact atomic force microscopy is used to measure the 3D force field on a dense-packed Cu(111) surface. An unexpected image contrast reversal is observed as the tip is moved towards the surface, with atoms appearing first as bright spots, whereas hollow and bridge sites turn bright at smaller tip-sample distances. Computer modeling is used to elucidate the nature of the image contrast. We find that the contrast reversal is essentially a geometrical effect, which, unlike in gold, is observable in Cu due to an unusually large stability of the tip-sample junction over large distances.

van der Waals Interaction Energies of Small Fragments of P, As, Sb, S, Se, and Te: Comparison of Complete Basis Set Limit CCSD(T) and DFT with Approximate Dispersion.

Interaction energies of small model van der Waals fragments of group VA (P, As, Sb) and group VIA (S, Se, Te) are calculated using the complete basis set CCSD(T) method and compared to density functional results with approximate treatment of dispersion interaction using vdW-DF- and DFT-D-types of theories. These simple systems show surprising diversity of electronic properties ranging from more "metallic" to more "insulator" like, a property which needs to be captured in the approximate methods. While none of the standard approximate DFT theories provides an entirely satisfactory description of all the systems, we identify the most reliable approaches of each type. In addition, we show that results can be further tuned to chemical accuracy. In vdW-DF theory, guided by physical insights and the availability of quasi-exact CCSD(T) results, we supply the missing parts of correlation by matching an appropriate hybrid/semilocal exchange-correlation functional to describe short-/medium-range correlations accurately. In the DFT-D-type of theories, we reparametrize the empirical dispersion term. Since for such an accurate treatment benchmark calculations are needed, which typically is feasible only for a finite cluster, we argue that the cluster based model of the exchange-correlation hole is transferrable also to extended systems with vdW dispersion interactions.

Understanding frictional duality and bi-duality: Sb-nanoparticles on HOPG.

Antimony nanoparticles deposited under UHV conditions on HOPG are found to exhibit an intriguing frictional behavior characterized by a distinct clearly separated double dual behavior of dependence of the frictional force on contact area. We present the first realistic simulations, density functional modeling adapted to accommodate van der Waals interactions, of the (double) dual frictional behavior. The simulations provide insights into the physics/chemistry of all the frictional branches in terms of incommensurable interfaces, mobile spacer molecules as well as a novel concept of mobile oxidized multi-nanoasperities.