Nanoscale analysis of the oxidation state and surface termination of praseodymium oxide ultrathin films on ruthenium(0001)

Flege, J.I., Krisponeit, J.-O., Höcker, J., Hoppe, M., Niu, Yuran ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0491-892X, Zakharov, A., Schaefer, A., Falta, J. and Krasovskii, E.E. 2017. Nanoscale analysis of the oxidation state and surface termination of praseodymium oxide ultrathin films on ruthenium(0001). Ultramicroscopy 183 , pp. 61-66. 10.1016/j.ultramic.2017.05.007

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Abstract

The complex structure and morphology of ultrathin praseodymia films deposited on a ruthenium(0001) single crystal substrate by reactive molecular beam epitaxy is analyzed by intensity-voltage low-energy electron microscopy in combination with theoretical calculations within an ab initio scattering theory. A rich coexistence of various nanoscale crystalline surface structures is identified for the as-grown samples, notably comprising two distinct oxygen-terminated hexagonal Pr2O3(0001) surface phases as well as a cubic Pr2O3(111) and a fluorite PrO2(111) surface component. Furthermore, scattering theory reveals a striking similarity between the electron reflectivity spectra of praseodymia and ceria due to very efficient screening of the nuclear charge by the extra 4f electron in the former case.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Praseodymia; Ceria; Low-energy electron microscopy and Diffraction; Oxide films; Rare-earth oxides; Electron scattering
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0304-3991
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 June 2017
Date of Acceptance:	9 May 2017
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 05:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/101429

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