Abstract
We have succeeded in the observation of dynamic processes on a metal-oxide surface by scanning tunneling microscopy. When a vacuum-annealed TiO 2(110)-(1 × 1) surface maintained at 800 K is exposed to 1 × 10 −5 Pa of O 2, hill-like structures are randomly nucleated over terraces. They are further transformed into added rows comprising Ti 2O 3 and to new terraces. Low valent Ti n+ ions ( n ≤ 3), which have been accumulated at interstitial positions during annealing, are vertically transported and oxidized into the additional structures. On the other hand, time-resolved observation reveals the transport kinetics of individual formate ions diffusing into a void fabricated in a formate monolayer. A row of Ti ions of the substrate presents a one-dimensional channel for formate transport. A significant anisotropy in formate-formate interaction is concluded; the repulsive force between the formates neighboring on a Ti-row drives the ions to migrate, whereas the attraction between the formates on adjacent Ti-rows plays a secondary role in regulating overlayer structure.
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