Abstract
The interaction of Au atoms with point defects in a vanadyl-terminated V2O3(0001) film has been investigated with low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). For this purpose, oxygen and vanadyl vacancies were introduced into the oxide surface via electron bombardment and characterized with STM topographic imaging and conductance spectroscopy. In addition, water titration experiments have been performed to distinguish the different types of point defects. Oxide films with increasing defect densities have then been prepared to explore the interaction of individual Au atoms with the surface. Up to the highest defect concentration, regular bridge sites in the vanadyl lattice were identified to be the preferred Au adsorption sites. This is in conflict with recent DFT calculations that found Au binding to oxygen vacancies to be much stronger than to regular surface sites. Possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed in the text.
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