Image of the week: Phase behavior of ternary oxide layers

By Tom Sharp on May 22, 2017

Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter is currently collating a Special Issue on the fundamentals of chemical functionalities at oxide interfaces, with the help of guest editors Stefano Agnoli and Matthias Batzill. This weeks image comes from one such paper by Svetlozar Surnev et al. investigating the properties of 2D ternary oxides on Pd (100) surfaces.

The authors synthesized MnWO_x and FeWO_x nanolayers using a solid state chemical reaction on Pd surfaces. They then determined their structure and stoichiometry with state of the art surface techniques including scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS).

The 2D HEX-MnWOx phase on Pd(100): (a) large-scale STM image (120 × 120 nm², 2.0 V, 50 pA). Two orthogonal domains, A and B, and bare Pd areas are indicated; (b) STM image (22 × 22 nm², 0.3 V, 50 pA) showing the domains A and B in more detail. A line profile taken from domain A is plotted in the inset; (c) High-resolution STM image (8 × 8 nm², 0.1 V, 50 pA) of the HEX layer with the unit cell indicated; (d) LEED pattern (E = 62 V); (e) lattice model and (f) calculated LEED image of the HEX phase. Image taken from J. Phys. Cond. Mat. 234004 © IOP Publishing.

The authors revealed that the nanolayers’ structure and composition vary strongly with the oxygen chemical potential: from an oxygen-rich layered hexagonal phase, weakly coupled to the substrate, to oxygen-poor bilayer commensurate structures, strongly bound to a Pd–Mn(Fe) alloyed interface.

Read the full article HERE.

Find more Special Issue article on oxide interfaces HERE.

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