Abstract
The discovery of hydrogen atoms on the TiO2 surface is crucial for many practical applications, including photocatalytic water splitting. Electronically activating interfacial hydrogen atoms on the TiO2 surface is a common way to control their reactivity. Modulating the potential landscape is another way, but dedicated studies for such an activation are limited. Here we show the single hydrogen atom manipulation, and on-surface facilitated water deprotonation process on a rutile TiO2 (110) surface using low temperature atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force spectroscopy. The configuration of the hydrogen atom is manipulated on this surface step by step using the local field. Furthermore, we quantify the force needed to relocate the hydrogen atom on this surface using force spectroscopy and density functional theory. Reliable control of hydrogen atoms provides a new mechanistic insight of the water molecules on a metal oxide surface.
Highlights
The discovery of hydrogen atoms on the TiO2 surface is crucial for many practical applications, including photocatalytic water splitting
The hydrogen atom detection on a rutile TiO2 surface is an important topic owing to its intriguing chemical and physical properties related to atomistic water splitting and hydroxyl production on this surface[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
When the TiO2 surface is exposed to oxygen at room temperature, oxygen will dissociate on this surface and will be adsorbed as an adatom (Oad) on Ti row[28,29]
Summary
The discovery of hydrogen atoms on the TiO2 surface is crucial for many practical applications, including photocatalytic water splitting.
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