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Title: Influence of LaFeO 3 Surface Termination on Water Reactivity

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

The polarity of oxide surfaces can dramatically impact their surface reactivity, in particular with polar molecules such as water. The surface species that result from this interaction change the oxide electronic structure and chemical reactivity in applications such as photoelectrochemistry, but are challenging to probe experimentally with atomic-scale understanding. Here we report a detailed study of the surface chemistry and electronic structure of the perovskite LaFeO3 in humid conditions using ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Comparing the two possible terminations of the polar (001)-oriented surface, we find that the LaO surface is more reactive toward water, forming hydroxyl species and adsorbing molecular water at lower relative humidity than its FeO2-terminated counterpart. Our results demonstrate how the termination of a complex oxide can dramatically impact its reactivity, providing insight into the design of catalyst materials.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1347856
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-123478; 49306
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 5; ISSN 1948-7185
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (8)

Surface termination effects on the oxygen reduction reaction rate at fuel cell cathodes journal January 2018
Chemical and electronic structure analysis of a SrTiO3 (001)/p-Ge (001) hydrogen evolution photocathode journal March 2018
Impact of Sr-Incorporation on Cr Oxidation and Water Dissociation in La (1- x ) Sr x CrO 3 journal January 2018
Speciation and Electronic Structure of La1−xSrxCoO3−δ During Oxygen Electrolysis journal October 2018
Effect of Bi-doping on the electrocatalytic properties of LaFeO3 powders prepared by sol–gel method journal February 2019
The effects of the oxygen content on the photoelectrochemical properties of LaFeO3 perovskite thin films obtained by pulsed laser deposition journal November 2019
Water adsorption, dissociation and oxidation on SrTiO 3 and ferroelectric surfaces revealed by ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy journal January 2019
Surface phase diagrams of La-based perovskites towards the O-rich limit from first principles journal January 2019

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