Intrinsic diffusion of hydrogen on rutile TiO2(110)

The combined experimental and theoretical study of intrinsic hydrogen diffusion on bridge-bonded oxygen (BBO) rows of TiO2(110) is presented. Sequences of isothermal scanning tunneling microscopy images demonstrate a complex behavior of hydrogen formed by water dissociation on BBO vacancies. Different diffusion rates are observed for the two hydrogens in the original geminate OH pair suggesting the presence of a long-lived polaronic state. For the case of separated hydroxyls, both theory and experiment yield comparable temperature-dependent diffusion rates. Density functional theory calculations show that there are two comparable low energy diffusion pathways for hydrogen motion along the BBO from one BBO to its neighbor, one by a direct hop and the other by an intermediate minimum at a terrace O. The values of kinetic parameters (prefactors and diffusion barriers) determined experimentally and theoretically are significantly different and indicate the presence of a more complex diffusion mechanism. We speculate that the hydrogen diffusion proceeds via a two-step mechanism: the initial diffusion of localized charge, followed by the diffusion of hydrogen. Both experiment and theory show the presence of repulsive OH-OH interactions.