Intermetallic charge transfer in MTiO3 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) by Ti 2p edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering

Abstract

While the charge transfer between the transition metal and oxygen sites in transition metal oxides has been studied by resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering, the charge transfer between transition metal sites has not been studied as of yet. In this study, we have measured the Ti 2p edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectra of MTiO3 (M=Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) in order to investigate the intermetallic M 3d–Ti 3d charge transfer. We found the peak around −4.5eV in the energy loss scale for all MTiO3, which is attributed to the M 3d–Ti 3d charge transfer; whereas only FeTiO3 exhibits an additional intermetallic charge transfer peak at −2.5eV. We attributed that the existence of the additional peak in FeTiO3 reflects the relation of M 3d and Ti 3d energy levels.