Oxygen vacancies on the surface of a ceria film

R. OLBRICH; G. E. MURGIDA; V. FERRARI; C. BARTH; A. M. LLOIS; M. REICHLING; M. V. GANDUGLIA PIROVANO

Congreso; 3º Fundamental and Applications of Cerium Dioxide in Catalysis; 2018

Ceria is known for its rich phase diagramm and its great oxygen storage capacity (OSC) which is the basis for the use of ceria in electrochemistry and heterogeneous catalysis applications where thesurface plays a paramount role. Especially oxygen vacancies on the surface of ceria have, however, been discussed controversially1.In this work we show images obtained with a non?contact atomic force microscope (NC-AFM) revealing oxygen defects on the ceria surface. We found periodic structures representing differentreduction states2 and unordered surface vacancies which are metastable.