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A. Bourgund, B. Lechner, M. Meier, C. Franchini, G. Parkinson, U. Heiz, F. Esch:
"Influence of local defects on the dynamics of O-H bond breaking and formation on a magnetite surface";
Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 123 (2019), 19742 - 19747.

The transport of H adatoms across oxide supports plays an important role in many catalytic reactions. We investigate the dynamics of H/Fe3O4(001) between 295 and 382 K. By scanning tunneling microscopy at frame rates of up to 19.6 fps, we observe the thermally activated switching of H between two O atoms on neighboring Fe rows. This switching rate changes in proximity to a defect, explained by density functional theory as a distortion in the Fe-O lattice shortening the diffusion path. Quantitative analysis yields an apparent activation barrier of 0.94 ± 0.07 eV on a pristine surface. The present work highlights the importance of local techniques in the study of atomic-scale dynamics at defective surfaces such as oxide supports.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b05547