Engineering surface dipoles on mixed conducting oxides with ultra-thin oxide decoration layers
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Standard
In: Nature Communications, Vol. 15.2024, No. 1, 1730, 02.2024.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex - Download
}
RIS (suitable for import to EndNote) - Download
TY - JOUR
T1 - Engineering surface dipoles on mixed conducting oxides with ultra-thin oxide decoration layers
AU - Siebenhofer, Matthäus
AU - Nenning, Andreas
AU - Rameshan, Christoph
AU - Blaha, Peter
AU - Fleig, Jürgen
AU - Kubicek, Markus
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/2
Y1 - 2024/2
N2 - Improving materials for energy conversion and storage devices is deeply connected with an optimization of their surfaces and surface modification is a promising strategy on the way to enhance modern energy technologies. This study shows that surface modification with ultra-thin oxide layers allows for a systematic tailoring of the surface dipole and the work function of mixed ionic and electronic conducting oxides, and it introduces the ionic potential of surface cations as a readily accessible descriptor for these effects. The combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) illustrates that basic oxides with a lower ionic potential than the host material induce a positive surface charge and reduce the work function of the host material and vice versa. As a proof of concept that this strategy is widely applicable to tailor surface properties, we examined the effect of ultra-thin decoration layers on the oxygen exchange kinetics of pristine mixed conducting oxide thin films in very clean conditions by means of in-situ impedance spectroscopy during pulsed laser deposition (i-PLD). The study shows that basic decorations with a reduced surface work function lead to a substantial acceleration of the oxygen exchange on the surfaces of diverse materials.
AB - Improving materials for energy conversion and storage devices is deeply connected with an optimization of their surfaces and surface modification is a promising strategy on the way to enhance modern energy technologies. This study shows that surface modification with ultra-thin oxide layers allows for a systematic tailoring of the surface dipole and the work function of mixed ionic and electronic conducting oxides, and it introduces the ionic potential of surface cations as a readily accessible descriptor for these effects. The combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) illustrates that basic oxides with a lower ionic potential than the host material induce a positive surface charge and reduce the work function of the host material and vice versa. As a proof of concept that this strategy is widely applicable to tailor surface properties, we examined the effect of ultra-thin decoration layers on the oxygen exchange kinetics of pristine mixed conducting oxide thin films in very clean conditions by means of in-situ impedance spectroscopy during pulsed laser deposition (i-PLD). The study shows that basic decorations with a reduced surface work function lead to a substantial acceleration of the oxygen exchange on the surfaces of diverse materials.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186233692&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-024-45824-9
DO - 10.1038/s41467-024-45824-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 38409206
AN - SCOPUS:85186233692
VL - 15.2024
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 1730
ER -