Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: Through an interplay between scanning tunneling microscopy experiments and density functional theory calculations, we determine unambiguously the active surface site responsible for the dissociation of water molecules adsorbed on rutile TiO(2)(110). Oxygen vacancies in the surface layer are shown to dissociate H(2)O through the transfer of one proton to a nearby oxygen atom, forming two hydroxyl groups for every vacancy. The amount of water dissociation is limited by the density of oxygen vacancies present on the clean surface exclusively. The dissociation process sets in as soon as molecular water is able to diffuse to the active site.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Institutions: Aarhus University, Technical University of Denmark
Language: English
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2139491573