Surface-reaction induced structural oscillations in the subsurface

Surface and subsurface are commonly considered as separate entities because of the difference in the bonding environment and are often investigated separately due to the experimental challenges in differentiating the surface and subsurface effects. Using in-situ atomic-scale transmission electron mi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2020-01, Vol.11 (1), p.305-305, Article 305
Main Authors: Sun, Xianhu, Zhu, Wenhui, Wu, Dongxiang, Li, Chaoran, Wang, Jianyu, Zhu, Yaguang, Chen, Xiaobo, Boscoboinik, Jorge Anibal, Sharma, Renu, Zhou, Guangwen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
119/118
140/146
639/301/299/886
639/638/77/885
639/925/357/537
Carburization (corrosion)
Catalysis
Chemical reactions
Copper
Electron microscopy
Humanities and Social Sciences
Mass transport
Microscopy
multidisciplinary
NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Organic chemistry
Oscillations
Oxidation
Oxides
Oxygen
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Surface reactions
Transmission electron microscopy
Vacancies
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Summary:Surface and subsurface are commonly considered as separate entities because of the difference in the bonding environment and are often investigated separately due to the experimental challenges in differentiating the surface and subsurface effects. Using in-situ atomic-scale transmission electron microscopy to resolve the surface and subsurface at the same time, we show that the hydrogen–CuO surface reaction results in structural oscillations in deeper atomic layers via the cycles of ordering and disordering of oxygen vacancies in the subsurface. Together with atomistic calculations, we show that the structural oscillations in the subsurface are induced by the hydrogen oxidation-induced cyclic loss of oxygen from the oxide surface. These results demonstrate the propagation of the surface reaction dynamics into the deeper layers in inducing nonstoichiometry in the subsurface and have significant implications in modulating various chemical processes involving surface–subsurface mass transport such as heterogeneous catalysis, oxidation, corrosion and carburization. Atomically differentiating surface and subsurface is experimentally challenging. Here, the authors use in-situ electron microscopy to simultaneously monitor the surface and subsurface and show that H 2 oxidation on CuO surfaces induces cycles of ordering and disordering of oxygen vacancies in the subsurface.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-14167-1