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S. Gerhold, M. Riva, Z. Wang, R. Bliem, M. Wagner, J. Osiecki, K. Schulte, M. Schmid, U. Diebold:
"Nickel-Oxide-Modified SrTiO₃(110)-(4 × 1) Surfaces and Their Interaction with Water
 
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Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 119 (2015), 20481 - 20487.

Nickel oxide (NiO), deposited onto the strontium titanate (SrTiO3) (110)-(4 × 1) surface, was studied using photoemission spectroscopy (PES), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), and low-energy He+ ion scattering (LEIS), as well as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The main motivation for studying this system comes
from the prominent role it plays in photocatalysis. The (4 × 1) reconstructed SrTiO3(110) surface was previously found to be remarkably inert toward water adsorption under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions. Nickel oxide grows on this surface as patches without any apparent ordered structure. PES and LEIS reveal an upward band bending, a reduction of the band gap, and reactivity toward water adsorption upon deposition of NiO. Spectroscopic results are discussed
with respect to the enhanced reactivity toward water of the NiO-loaded surface.