Deciphering the influence of nanocatalyst morphology on their catalytic activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the limiting reaction in water splitting process, is essential to develop highly active precious metal-free catalysts, yet poorly understood. The intrinsic OER activity of Co3O4 nanocubes and spheroids is probed at the single particle level to unravel the correlation between exposed facets, (001) vs. (111), and activity. Single cubes with predominant (001) facets show higher activity than multi-faceted spheroids. Density functional theory calculations of different terminations and reaction sites at (001) and (111) surfaces confirm the higher activity of the former, expressed in lower overpotentials. This is rationalized by a change in the active site from octahedral to tetrahedral Co and the potential-determining step from *OH to *O for the cases with lowest overpotentials at the (001) and (111) surfaces, respectively. This approach enables the identification of highly active facets to guide shape-selective syntheses of improved metal oxide nanocatalysts for water oxidation. © 2022 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

In epitaxial polar-oxide interfaces, conductivity sets in beyond a finite number of monolayers (ML). This threshold for conductivity is explained by accumulating sufficient electric potential to initiate charge transfer to the interface. Here we experimentally and theoretically study the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (111) interface where a critical thickness tc of nine epitaxial LaAlO3 ML is required to turn the interface from insulating to conducting and even superconducting. We show that tc decreases to 3 ML when depositing a cobalt overlayer (capping) and 6 ML for platinum capping. The latter result contrasts with the (001) interface, where platinum capping increases tc beyond the bare interface. Our density functional theory calculations with a Hubbard U term confirm the observed threshold for conductivity for the bare and the metal-capped interfaces. Interestingly, conductivity appears concomitantly with superconductivity for metal/LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (111) interfaces, in contrast with the metal/LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (001) interfaces where conductivity appears without superconductivity. We attribute this dissimilarity to the different orbital polarization of eg′ for the (111) versus dxy for the (001) interface. © 2022 American Physical Society.

Heterostructuring provides different ways to manipulate the orbital degrees of freedom and to tailor orbital occupations in transition-metal oxides. However, the reliable prediction of these modifications remains a challenge. Here we present a detailed investigation of the relationship between the crystal and electronic structure in YVO3-LaAlO3 superlattices by combining ab initio theory, scanning transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. Density functional theory simulations including an on-site Coulomb repulsion term accurately predict the crystal structure and, in conjunction with x-ray diffraction, provide an explanation for the lifting of degeneracy of the vanadium dxz and dyz orbitals that was recently observed in this system. In addition, we unravel the combined effects of electronic confinement and octahedral connectivity by disentangling their impact from that of epitaxial strain. Our results demonstrate that the specific orientation of the substrate and the thickness of the YVO3 slabs in the multilayer can be utilized to reliably engineer orbital polarization. © 2022 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.

Deciphering the influence of nanocatalyst morphology on their catalytic activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the limiting reaction in water splitting process, is essential to develop highly active precious metal-free catalysts, yet poorly understood. The intrinsic OER activity of Co3O4 nanocubes and spheroids is probed at the single particle level to unravel the correlation between exposed facets, (001) vs. (111), and activity. Single cubes with predominant (001) facets show higher activity than multi-faceted spheroids. Density functional theory calculations of different terminations and reaction sites at (001) and (111) surfaces confirm the higher activity of the former, expressed in lower overpotentials. This is rationalized by a change in the active site from octahedral to tetrahedral Co and the potential-determining step from *OH to *O for the cases with lowest overpotentials at the (001) and (111) surfaces, respectively. This approach enables the identification of highly active facets to guide shape-selective syntheses of improved metal oxide nanocatalysts for water oxidation. © 2022 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Exploring the origin of the metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) in transition metal oxide heterostructures is of high interest in current condensed matter physics research. Here based on density functional theory calculations with the meta-GGA exchange correlation functional SCAN, we find distinct mechanisms of MIT in (SrVO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001) superlattices (SLs). The SCAN functional is sufficient to determine the ground state structure and possible symmetry breaking at a given lateral lattice constant and best describes the electronic and magnetic properties of the weakly correlated (SrRuO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001) SL and its constituents by minimizing the self-interaction error. However, an additional Hubbard U term is necessary for the strongly correlated (SrVO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001)SLs. We show that SCAN + U always favors the monoclinic (P21/c) symmetry in (SrXO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001)SLs, X=V and Ru, irrespective of the in-plane lattice constant and X. For the orthorhombic (SrVO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001)SL(Cmmm) at aSTO (tensile strain +1.7%), we report strong correlation and confinement driven Mott-Hubbard type MIT via long-range stripe antiferromagnetic ordering, whereas, under compressive strain (-3.6%) at aYAO, the interplay of confinement, correlation, and finite octahedral tilts and rotations lead to monoclinic (P21/c) symmetry, which drives an orbital reconstruction and a concomitant MIT with ferromagnetic spin alignment. Lastly, using Boltzmann transport theory within the constant relaxation time approximation, for (SrVO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001)SL at aSTO, we obtain large n-type Seebeck coefficients S of -566 (in-plane) and -454 μV/K (cross-plane), respectively, along with an in-plane (cross-plane) power factor of 31.4 (8.5) μWK-2cm-1 (assuming τ=4 fs) at 300 K. These values directly categorize (SrVO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001)SL as a promising oxide thermoelectric material. © 2022 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.

Multi-orbital physics in quasi-two-dimensional electron gases (q2DEGs) triggers intriguing phenomena not observed in bulk materials, such as unconventional superconductivity and magnetism. Here, we investigate the mechanism of orbital selective switching of the spin-polarization in the oxide q2DEG formed at the (001) interface between the LaAlO3, EuTiO3 and SrTiO3 band insulators. By using density functional theory calculations, transport, magnetic and x-ray spectroscopy measurements, we find that the filling of titanium-bands with 3dxz/3dyz orbital character in the EuTiO3 layer and at the interface with SrTiO3 induces an antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic switching of the exchange interaction between Eu-4f7 magnetic moments. The results explain the observation of the carrier density-dependent ferromagnetic correlations and anomalous Hall effect in this q2DEG, and demonstrate how combined theoretical and experimental approaches can lead to a deeper understanding of emerging electronic phases and serve as a guide for the materials design of advanced electronic applications. © 2022, The Author(s).

By using density functional theory calculations including a Coulomb repulsion term, we explore the formation of oxygen vacancies and their impact on the electronic and magnetic properties of strained bulk LaNiO3 and (LaNiO3)1/(LaAlO3)1(001) superlattices. For bulk LaNiO3, we find that epitaxial strain induces a substantial anisotropy in the oxygen vacancy formation energy. In particular, tensile strain promotes the selective reduction of apical oxygen, which may explain why the recently observed superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates is limited to strained films. For (LaNiO3)1/(LaAlO3)1(001) superlattices, the simulations reveal that the NiO2 layer is most prone to vacancy formation, whereas the AlO2 layer exhibits generally the highest formation energies. The reduction is consistently endothermic, and a largely repulsive vacancy-vacancy interaction is identified as a function of the vacancy concentration. The released electrons are accommodated exclusively in the NiO2 layer, reducing the vacancy formation energy in the AlO2 layer by ∼70% with respect to bulk LaAlO3. By varying the vacancy concentration from 0 to 8.3% in the NiO2 layer at tensile strain, we observe an unexpected transition from a localized site-disproportionated (0.5%) to a delocalized (2.1%) charge accommodation, a reentrant site disproportionation leading to a metal-to-insulator transition despite a half-filled majority-spin Ni eg manifold (4.2%), and finally a magnetic phase transition (8.3%). While a band gap of up to 0.5 eV opens at 4.2% for compressive strain, it is smaller for tensile strain or the system is metallic, which is in sharp contrast to the defect-free superlattice. The strong interplay of electronic reconstructions and structural modifications induced by oxygen vacancies in this system highlights the key role of an explicit supercell treatment beyond rigid-band methods and exemplifies the complex response to defects in artificial transition metal oxides. © 2022 American Physical Society.

The electronic structure of the ferromagnetic semiconductor EuO is investigated by means of spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (spin-ARPES) and density functional theory. EuO exhibits unique properties of hosting both weakly dispersive nearly fully polarized Eu 4f bands, as well as O 2p levels indirectly exchange-split by the interaction with Eu nearest neighbors. Our temperature-dependent spin-ARPES data directly demonstrate the exchange splitting in O 2p and its vanishing at the Curie temperature. Our calculations with a Hubbard U term reveal a complex nature of the local exchange splitting on the oxygen site and in conduction bands. We discuss the mechanisms of indirect exchange in the O 2p levels by analyzing the orbital resolved band characters in ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases. The directional effects due to spin-orbit coupling are predicted theoretically to be significant in particular in the Eu 4f band manifold. The analysis of the shape of spin-resolved spectra in the Eu 4f spectral region reveals signatures of hybridization with O 2p states, in agreement with the theoretical predictions. We also analyze spectral changes in the spin-integrated spectra throughout the Curie temperature, and demonstrate that they derive from both the magnetic phase transition and effects due to sample aging, unavoidable for this highly reactive material. © 2022 American Physical Society.

The perovskite SrRuO3 is a prototypical itinerant ferromagnet which allows interface engineering of its electronic and magnetic properties. We report the synthesis and investigation of atomically flat artificial multilayers of SrRuO3 with the spin-orbit semimetal SrIrO3 in combination with band-structure calculations with a Hubbard U term and topological analysis. The latter reveal an electronic reconstruction and emergence of flat Ru-4dxz bands near the interface, ferromagnetic interlayer coupling, and a negative Berry-curvature contribution to the anomalous Hall effect. We analyze the Hall effect and magnetoresistance measurements as a function of the field angle from an out-of-plane towards an in-plane orientation (either parallel or perpendicular to the current direction) by a two-channel model. The magnetic easy direction is tilted by about 20∘ from the sample normal for low magnetic fields, rotating towards the out-of-plane direction by increasing fields. Fully strained epitaxial growth enables a strong anisotropy of magnetoresistance. An additional Hall effect contribution, not accounted for by the two-channel model, is compatible with stable skyrmions only up to a critical angle of roughly 45∘ from the sample normal. Within about 20∘ from the thin film plane an additional peaklike contribution to the Hall effect suggests the formation of a nontrivial spin structure. © 2021 American Physical Society.

The topological and thermoelectric properties of (EuO)n/(MgO)m(001) superlattices (SLs) are explored using density functional theory calculations including a Hubbard U term together with Boltzmann transport theory. In (EuO)1/(MgO)3(001) SL at the lattice constant of MgO a sizable band gap of 0.51 eV is opened by spin-orbit coupling (SOC) due to a band inversion between occupied localized Eu 4f and empty 5d conduction states. This inversion between bands of opposite parity is accompanied by a reorientation in the spin texture along the contour of band inversion surrounding the Γ point and leads to a Chern insulator with C = -1, also confirmed by the single edge state. Moreover, this Chern insulating phase shows promising thermoelectric properties, e.g., a Seebeck coefficient between 400 and 800μVK-1. A similar SOC-induced band inversion takes place also in the ferromagnetic semimetallic (EuO)2/(MgO)2(001) SL. Despite the vanishing band gap, it leads to a substantial anomalous Hall conductivity with values up to -1.04 e2/h and somewhat lower Seebeck coefficient. Both cases emphasize the relation between nontrivial topological bands and thermoelectricity also in systems with broken inversion symmetry. © 2021 American Physical Society.

Based on first-principles calculations including a Coulomb repulsion term, we identify trends in the electronic reconstruction of ANiO2/SrTiO3(001) (A=Pr, La) and ACuO2/SrTiO3(001) (A=Ca, Sr). Common to all cases is the emergence of a quasi-two-dimensional electron gas (q2DEG) in SrTiO3(001), albeit the higher polarity mismatch at the interface of nickelates versus cuprates to the nonpolar SrTiO3(001) substrate (3+/0 versus 2+/0) results in an enhanced q2DEG carrier density. The simulations reveal a significant dependence of the interfacial Ti 3dxy band bending on the rare-earth-metal ion in the nickelate films, being 20-30% larger for PrNiO2 and NdNiO2 than for LaNiO2. Contrary to expectations from the formal polarity mismatch, the electrostatic doping in the films is twice as strong in cuprates as in nickelates. We demonstrate that the depletion of the self-doping rare-earth-metal 5d states enhances the similarity of nickelate and cuprate Fermi surfaces in film geometry, reflecting a single hole in the Ni and Cu 3dx2-y2 orbitals. Finally, we show that NdNiO2 films grown on a polar NdGaO3(001) substrate feature a simultaneous suppression of q2DEG formation as well as Nd 5d self-doping. © 2021 authors.

Time-dependent and constituent-specific spectral changes in soft near-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) of an metal/insulator heterostructure after laser excitation are analyzed at the O K-edge with picosecond time resolution. The oxygen absorption edge of the insulator features a uniform intensity decrease of the fine structure at elevated phononic temperatures, which can be quantified by a simple simulation and fitting procedure presented here. Combining XAS with ultrafast electron diffraction measurements and ab initio calculations demonstrates that the transient intensity changes in XAS can be assigned to a transient lattice temperature. Thus, the sensitivity of transient near-edge XAS to phonons is demonstrated. © 2021 American Physical Society

The electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of the double perovskite Sr2CoIrO6 (SCIO) under biaxial strain are explored in the framework of density functional theory, including a Hubbard U term and spin-orbit coupling in combination with absorption spectroscopy measurements on epitaxial thin films. While the end member SrIrO3 is a semimetal with a quenched spin and orbital moment and bulk SrCoO3 is a ferromagnetic (FM) metal with spin and orbital moment of 2.50 and 0.13 μB, respectively, the double perovskite SCIO emerges as an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator with antiparallel alignment of Co, Ir planes along the [110] direction. Co exhibits a spin and enhanced orbital moment of ∼2.35-2.45 and 0.31-0.46μB, respectively. Most remarkably, Ir acquires a significant spin and orbital moment of 1.21-1.25 and 0.13 μB, respectively. Analysis of the orbital occupation indicates an electronic reconstruction due to a substantial charge transfer from minority to majority spin states in Ir and from Ir to Co, signaling an Ir4+δ, Co4-δ configuration. Biaxial strain, varied from -1.02% (aNdGaO3) through 0% (aSrTiO3) to 1.53% (aGdScO3), affects the orbital polarization of the t2g states and leads to a nonmonotonic change of the band gap between 163 and 235 meV. The absorption coefficient reveals a two-plateau feature due to transitions from the valence to the lower-lying narrow t2g and the higher-lying broader eg bands. Inclusion of many-body effects, in particular, excitonic effects by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation, increases the band gap by ∼0.2eV and improves the agreement with the measured spectrum concerning the position of the second peak at ∼2.6eV. © 2021 American Physical Society.

Using density functional theory calculations with an on-site Hubbard U term, we study the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the Co3O4(001) surface. The stability of different surface terminations as a function of oxygen partial pressure as well as pH and applied voltage is compiled in a Pourbaix diagram. The termination with octahedral Co and O ions (B-layer) is found to have the lowest overpotential of 0.46 V for an octahedral Co reaction site, associated with its p-type conducting character and the higher oxidation state of the active site (+4) during OER. Furthermore, we systematically investigated the effect of Fe and Ni doping on the overpotential. Our results indicate that Ni doping at an octahedral site in the surface layer reduces the overpotential from 0.46 to 0.34 V. Likewise, Fe doping at an octahedral site at the tetrahedral Co termination (A-layer) lowers η from 0.63 to 0.37 V with octahedral Co remaining in the active site. We note that the potential determining step changes from ∗OH (B-layer) to ∗OOH formation (A-layer). While implicit solvation increases the overpotential by 0.2 V (B-layer) and 0.4 V (A-layer), which is attributed to enhanced binding energies of the intermediates, the general trends with respect to doping remain unchanged. The scaling relationship of the binding energies of ∗OOH and ∗OH is overall satisfied, with the doped systems lying close to the top of the volcano plot of the overpotential versus (ΔG∗O b-ΔG∗OH b ). A further insight into the origin of this behavior is gained by analyzing the changes in oxidation states of surface ions and, in particular, the Co active site during OER. © 2021 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Co3O4 nanospheres with a mean diameter of 19 nm were applied in the selective oxidation of 2-propanol to acetone in the gas phase. Compared with 9 nm spheres, the 19 nm spheres exhibited superior catalytic activity and stability with 100% selectivity to acetone up to 500 K. Transmission electron microscopy, N2 physisorption, 2-propanol and O2 temperature-programmed desorption, and 2-propanol temperature-programmed surface reaction in O2 were applied to characterize the bulk and surface properties. Despite the smaller specific surface area (35 m2 g-1), an increased 2-propanol adsorption capacity was observed for the larger nanospheres ascribed to a preferential (110) surface orientation. Temperature-programmed oxidation experiments after reaction showed multilayer coke deposition and severe reduction of the Co3O4 surface, but excellent stability was maintained at 430 K using the 19 nm spheres in a steady-state oxidation experiment for 100 h with only 10% loss of the initial activity. The good agreement of the 2-propanol decomposition profiles indicates that the superior activity is caused by the enhanced interaction of the larger nanospheres with O2. A Mars-van Krevelen mechanism on the (110) surface was identified by density functional theory calculations with a Hubbard U term, favoring faster reoxidation compared with the (100) surface predominantly exposed by the 9 nm spheres. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Oxide heterostructures provide unique opportunities to modify the properties of quantum materials through a targeted manipulation of spin, charge, and orbital states. Here, we use resonant x-ray reflectometry to probe the electronic structure of thin slabs of YVO3 embedded in a superlattice with LaAlO3. We extend the previously established methods of reflectometry analysis to a general form applicable to t2g electron systems and extract quantitative depth-dependent x-ray linear dichroism profiles. Our data reveal an artificial, layered orbital polarization, where the average occupation of xz and yz orbitals in the interface planes next to LaAlO3 is inverted compared to the central part of the YVO3 slab. This phase is stable down to 30 K and the bulklike orbital ordering transitions are absent. We identify the key mechanism for the electronic reconstruction to be a combination of epitaxial strain and spatial confinement by the LaAlO3 layers, in good agreement with predictions from ab initio theory. © 2021 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.

The activation of molecular oxygen is a fundamental step in almost all catalytic oxidation reactions. We have studied this topic and the role of surface vacancies for Co3O4(100) films with a synergistic combination of experimental and theoretical methods. We show that the as-prepared surface is B-layer terminated and that mild reduction produces oxygen single and double vacancies in this layer. Oxygen adsorption experiments clearly reveal different superoxide species below room temperature. The superoxide desorbs below ca. 120 K from a vacancy-free surface and is not active for CO oxidation while superoxide on a surface with oxygen vacancies is stable up to ca. 270 K and can oxidize CO already at the low temperature of 120 K. The vacancies are not refilled by oxygen from the superoxide, which makes them suitable for long-term operation. Our joint experimental/theoretical effort highlights the relevance of surface vacancies in catalytic oxidation reactions. © 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

In a combined experimental and theoretical study we assess the role of Co incorporation on the OER activity of LaCoxFe1−xO3. Phase pure perovskites were synthesized up to (Formula presented.) in 0.025/0.050 steps. HAADF STEM and EDX analysis points towards FeO2-terminated (001)-facets in LaFeO3, in accordance with the stability diagram obtained from density functional theory calculations with a Hubbard U term (DFT+U). Linear sweep voltammetry conducted in a rotating disk electrode setup shows a reduction of the OER overpotential and a nonmonotonic trend with x, with double layer capacitance measurements indicating an intrinsic nature of activity. This is supported by DFT+U results that show reduced overpotentials for both Fe and Co reaction sites with the latter reaching values of 0.32–0.40 V, ∼0.3 V lower than for Fe. This correlates with a stronger reduction of the binding energy difference of the *O and *OH intermediates towards an optimum value of 1.6 eV for (Formula presented.), the OH deprotonation being the potential limiting step in most cases. Significant variations of the magnetic moments of both surface and subsurface Co and Fe during OER demonstrate that the beneficial effect is a result of a concerted action involving many surrounding ions, which extends the concept of the active site. © 2021 The Authors. Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH

Here we report the optical and X-ray absorption spectra of the wide-band-gap oxide MgO using density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory (MBPT). Our comprehensive study of the electronic structure shows that while the band gap is underestimated with the exchange-correlation functional PBEsol (4.58 eV) and the hybrid functional HSE06 (6.58 eV) compared to the experimental value (7.7 eV), it is significantly improved (7.52 eV) and even overcompensated (8.53 eV) when quasiparticle corrections are considered. Inclusion of excitonic effects by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) yields the optical spectrum in excellent agreement with experiment. Excellent agreement is observed also for the O and Mg K-edge absorption spectra, demonstrating the importance of the electron-hole interaction within MBPT. Projection of the electron-hole coupling coefficients from the BSE eigenvectors on the band structure allows us to determine the origin of prominent peaks and identify the orbital character of the relevant contributions. The real-space projection of the lowest energy exciton wave function of the optical spectrum indicates a Wannier-Mott type, whereas the first exciton in the O K edge is more localized. © 2021 American Physical Society.

Combining advanced growth and characterization techniques with state-of-the-art first-principles simulations in the frameworks of density functional theory and Boltzmann transport theory, recent advances in the field of transition metal oxide films and superlattices (SLs) as thermoelectric materials are discussed, with particular focus on a selection of quantum-scale approaches to tune their thermoelectric performance. Specifically, (Formula presented.) films grown on regular and miscut substrates have enabled experimental confirmation of the large predicted out-of-plane Seebeck coefficient of this anisotropic material and also reveal the necessity of a Hubbard-U parameter on the Co (Formula presented.) states. Furthermore, oxygen diffusion and incorporation from the (Formula presented.) substrate lead to a significant enhancement of the high-temperature Seebeck coefficient in (Formula presented.) SLs. Next, it is shown how n- and p-type materials can be achieved either by exploiting interface polarity in a (Formula presented.) SL or using epitaxial strain to shift orbital-dependent transport resonances across the Fermi level in (Formula presented.) SLs. Moreover, confinement- and strain-induced metal-to-insulator transitions induce high Seebeck coefficients and power factors in short-period (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.) SLs ((Formula presented.) V, Cr, Mn). Finally, a relation between the topologically nontrivial Chern insulating behavior and enhanced thermoelectric response in (Formula presented.) SLs is established. The article concludes with a discussion of challenges and future topics of research in oxide thermoelectrics. © 2021 The Authors. physica status solidi (b) basic solid state physics published by Wiley-VCH GmbH

Studies on oxide quasi-two-dimensional electron gas (q2DEG) have been a playground for the discovery of novel and sometimes unexpected phenomena, like the reported magnetism at the surface of SrTiO3 (001) and at the interface between nonmagnetic LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 band insulators. However, magnetism in this system is weak and there is evidence of a nonintrinsic origin. Here, by using in situ high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission, we demonstrate that ferromagnetic EuTiO3, the magnetic counterpart of SrTiO3 in the bulk, hosts a q2DEG at its (001) surface. This is confirmed by density functional theory calculations with Hubbard U terms in the presence of oxygen divacancies in various configurations, all of them leading to a spin-polarized q2DEG related to the ferromagnetic order of Eu-4f magnetic moments. The results suggest EuTiO3(001) as a new material platform for oxide q2DEGs, characterized by broken inversion and time-reversal symmetries. © 2021 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.

The origin of the 3×1 reconstruction observed in epitaxial LaCoO3 films on SrTiO3(001) is assessed by first-principles calculations including a Coulomb repulsion term. We compile a phase diagram as a function of the oxygen pressure, which shows that (3×1)-ordered oxygen vacancies (LaCoO2.67) are favored under commonly used growth conditions, while stoichiometric films emerge under oxygen-rich conditions. Growth of further reduced LaCoO2.5 brownmillerite films is impeded by phase separation. We report two competing ground-state candidates for stoichiometric films: a semimetallic phase with 3×1 low-spin/intermediate-spin/intermediate-spin (LS/IS/IS) magnetic order and a semiconducting phase with IS/IS/IS magnetic order. This demonstrates that tensile strain induces ferromagnetism even in the absence of oxygen vacancies. Both phases exhibit an intriguing (3×1)-reconstructed octahedral rotation pattern and accordingly modulated La-La distances. In particular, charge and bond disproportionation and concomitant orbital order of the t2g hole emerge at the Co sites that are also observed for unstrained bulk LaCoO3 in the IS state and explain structural data obtained by x-ray diffraction at elevated temperature. Site disproportionation drives a metal-to-semiconductor transition that reconciles the IS state with the experimentally observed low conductivity during spin-state crossover without the presence of Jahn-Teller distortions. © 2020 American Physical Society. ©2020 American Physical Society.

A defining feature of emergent phenomena in complex oxides is the competition and cooperation between ground states. In manganites, the balance between metallic and insulating phases can be tuned by the lattice; extending the range of lattice control would enhance the ability to access other phases. We stabilized uniform extreme tensile strain in nanoscale La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 membranes, exceeding 8% uniaxially and 5% biaxially. Uniaxial and biaxial strain suppresses the ferromagnetic metal at distinctly different strain values, inducing an insulator that can be extinguished by a magnetic field. Electronic structure calculations indicate that the insulator consists of charge-ordered Mn4+ and Mn3+ with staggered strain-enhanced Jahn-Teller distortions within the plane. This highly tunable strained membrane approach provides a broad opportunity to design and manipulate correlated electron states. © 2020 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.

Motivated by recent reports of superconductivity in Sr-doped NdNiO2 films on SrTiO3(001) [Nature (London) 572, 624 (2019)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/s41586-019-1496-5], we explore the role of the polar interface on the structural and electronic properties of NdNiOn/SrTiO3(001) (n=2,3) by performing first-principles calculations including a Coulomb repulsion term. For infinite-layer nickelate films (n=2), electronic reconstruction drives the surprising emergence of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the interface involving a strong occupation of the Ti 3d states. This effect is more pronounced than in LaAlO3/SrTiO3(001) and accompanied by a substantial reconstruction of the Fermi surface: a depletion of the self-doping Nd 5d states and an enhanced Ni eg orbital polarization reaching up to 35% at the surface, reflecting a single hole in the 3dx2-y2 states, i.e., cupratelike behavior. In contrast, no 2DEG forms for perovskite films (n=3) or if a single perovskite layer persists at the interface. We show that the topotactic reaction from the perovskite to the infinite-layer phase is confined to the nickelate film, whereas the SrTiO3 substrate remains intact. © 2020 American Physical Society.

The efficiency of photoelectrochemical tandem cells is still limited by the availability of stable low band gap electrodes. In this work, we report a photocathode based on lithium doped copper(ii) oxide, a black p-type semiconductor. Density functional theory calculations with a Hubbard U term show that low concentrations of Li (Li0.03Cu0.97O) lead to an upward shift of the valence band maximum that crosses the Fermi level and results in a p-type semiconductor. Therefore, Li doping emerged as a suitable approach to manipulate the electronic structure of copper oxide based photocathodes. As this material class suffers from instability in water under operating conditions, the recorded photocurrents are repeatedly misinterpreted as hydrogen evolution evidence. We investigated the photocorrosion behavior of LixCu1-xO cathodes in detail and give the first mechanistic study of the fundamental physical process. The reduced copper oxide species were localized by electron energy loss spectroscopy mapping. Cu2O grows as distinct crystallites on the surface of LixCu1-xO instead of forming a dense layer. Additionally, there is no obvious Cu2O gradient inside the films, as Cu2O seems to form on all LixCu1-xO nanocrystals exposed to water. The application of a thin Ti0.8Nb0.2Ox coating by atomic layer deposition and the deposition of a platinum co-catalyst increased the stability of LixCu1-xO against decomposition. These devices showed a stable hydrogen evolution for 15 minutes. © The Royal Society of Chemistry .

Using density functional theory+U (DFT+U) calculations, we explore the effect of dopants on the performance of α-Fe2O3(0001) as an anode material for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Systematic screening of 3d, 4d, and 5d transition metal dopants indicates general trends with dopant band filling and allows us to identify the most efficient dopants with respect to the overpotential and relate those to the solution energy and electronic properties. Different conditions (electrochemical vs photoelectrochemical) are accounted for by considering hydroxylated, hydrated, and oxygenated terminations. Based on the DFT+U results, we identify Rh as the most promising dopant that can reduce the overpotential both under dark and illumination conditions: from 0.56 V to 0.48 V for the hydroxylated surface and quite substantially from 1.12 V to 0.31 V for the hydrated termination and from 0.81 V to 0.56 V for the oxygenated surface. The origin of this improvement is attributed to the modification of the binding energy of chemisorbed species to the Fe2O3(0001) surface. Investigation of the spin density of intermediate steps during the OER shows that surface iron ions adopt a wide range of oxidation states (+2, +3, and +4) in pure hematite, depending on the termination and chemisorbed species on the surface, but a Fe+3 state is stabilized predominantly upon doping. While Rh is in the +3 state in the bulk, it transforms to +4 at the surface and acquires a finite magnetic moment in several intermediate steps. © 2020 Author(s).

We combine Fe57 Mössbauer spectroscopy and Fe57 nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (NRIXS) on nanoscale polycrystalline [bcc-Fe57/MgO] multilayers with various Fe-layer thicknesses and layer-resolved density-functional-theory (DFT)-based first-principles calculations of a (001)-oriented [Fe(8 ML)/MgO(8 ML)](001) heterostructure (where ML denotes monolayer) to unravel the interface-related atomic vibrational properties of a multilayer system. Being consistent in theory and experiment, we observe enhanced hyperfine magnetic fields Bhf in the multilayers as compared to Bhf in bulk bcc Fe; this effect is associated with the Fe/MgO interface layers. NRIXS and DFT both reveal a strong reduction of the longitudinal acoustic phonon peak in combination with an enhancement of the low-energy vibrational density of states (VDOS) suggesting that the presence of interfaces and the associated increase in the layer-resolved magnetic moments results in drastic changes in the Fe-partial VDOS. From the experimental and calculated VDOS, vibrational thermodynamic properties have been determined as a function of Fe thickness and were found to be in excellent agreement. © 2020 American Physical Society.

By using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we predict a puckered, dynamically stable Janus single-layer black arsenic-phosphorus (b-AsP), which is composed of two different atomic sublayers, arsenic and phosphorus atoms. The calculated phonon spectrum reveals that Janus single-layer b-AsP is dynamically stable with either pure or coupled optical phonon branches arising from As and P atoms. The calculated Raman spectrum indicates that due to the relatively strong P-P bonds, As atoms have no contribution to the high-frequency optical vibrations. In addition, the orientation-dependent isovolume heat capacity reveals anisotropic contributions of LA and TA phonon branches to the low-temperature thermal properties. Unlike pristine single layers of b-As and b-P, Janus single-layer b-AsP exhibits additional out-of-plane asymmetry which leads to important consequences for its electronic, optical, and elastic properties. In contrast to single-layer b-As, Janus single-layer b-AsP is found to possess a direct band gap dominated by the P atoms. Moreover, real and imaginary parts of the dynamical dielectric function, including excitonic effects, reveal the highly anisotropic optical feature of the Janus single-layer. A tight-binding (TB) model is also presented for Janus single-layer b-AsP, and it is shown that, with up to seven nearest hoppings, the TB model reproduces well the DFT band structure in the low-energy region around the band gap. This TB model can be used in combination with the Green's function approach to study, e.g., quantum transport in finite systems based on Janus single-layer b-AsP. Furthermore, the linear-elastic properties of Janus single-layer b-AsP are investigated, and the orientation-dependent in-plane stiffness and Poisson ratio are calculated. It is found that the Janus single layer exhibits strong in-plane anisotropy in its Poisson ratio much larger than that of single-layer b-P. This Janus single layer is relevant for promising applications in optical dichroism and anisotropic nanoelasticity. © 2020 American Physical Society.

Based on density functional theory calculations including a Coulomb repulsion parameter U, we explore the topological properties of (LaXO3)2/(LaAlO3)4 (111) with X = 4d and 5d cations. The metastable ferromagnetic phases of LaTcO3 and LaPtO3 with preserved P321 symmetry emerge as Chern insulators (CI) with C = 2 and 1 and band gaps of 41 and 38 meV at the lateral lattice constant of LaAlO3, respectively. Berry curvatures, spin textures as well as edge states provide additional insight into the nature of the CI states. While for X = Tc the CI phase is further stabilized under tensile strain, for X = Pd and Pt a site disproportionation takes place when increasing the lateral lattice constant from aLAO to aLNO. The CI phase of X = Pt shows a strong dependence on the Hubbard U parameter with sign reversal for higher values associated with the change of band gap opening mechanism. Parallels to the previously studied (X2O3)1/(Al2O3)5 (0001) honeycomb corundum layers are discussed. Additionally, non-magnetic systems with X = Mo and W are identified as potential candidates for Z2 topological insulators at aLAO with band gaps of 26 and 60 meV, respectively. The computed edge states and Z2 invariants underpin the non-trivial topological properties. © 2019, The Author(s).

In the framework of real-time time-dependent density functional theory we unravel the layer-resolved dynamics of excited carriers in a (Fe)1/(MgO)3(001) multilayer after an optical excitation with a frequency below the band gap of bulk MgO. Substantial transient changes to the electronic structure, which persist after the duration of the pulse, are mainly observed for in-plane polarized electric fields, corresponding to a laser pulse arriving perpendicular to the interface. While the strongest charge redistribution takes place in the Fe layer, a time-dependent change in the occupation numbers is visible in all layers, mediated by the presence of interface states. The time evolution of the layer-resolved time-dependent occupation numbers indicates a strong orbital dependence with the depletion from in-plane orbitals (e.g., dx2-y2 of Fe) and accumulation in out-of-plane orbitals (d3z2-r2 of Fe and pz of apical oxygen). We also observe a small net charge transfer of less than one percent of an electron away from oxygen towards the Mg sites, even for MgO layers which are not directly in contact with the metallic Fe. © 2019 American Physical Society.

By using density functional theory calculations with an on-site Coulomb repulsion term combined with Boltzmann transport theory, we explore the effect of t2g orbital occupation on the electronic, magnetic, and thermoelectric properties of (SrXO3)1/(SrTiO3)n(001) superlattices with n=1,3 and X=V, Cr, and Mn. In order to disentangle the effect of quantum confinement and octahedral rotations and to account for a wider temperature range, P4/mmm (untilted) and P21/c (tilted) phases are considered. We find that the ground-state superlattice geometries always display finite octahedral rotations, which drive an orbital reconstruction and a concomitant metal-to-insulator transition in confined SrVO3 and SrCrO3 single layers with ferro- A nd antiferromagnetic spin alignments, respectively. On the other hand, the confined SrMnO3 single layer exhibits electronic properties similar to bulk. We show that confinement enhances the thermoelectric properties, particularly for SrVO3 and SrCrO3 due to the emergent Mott phase. Large room-temperature Seebeck coefficients are obtained for the tilted superlattices, ranging from 500 to 600μV/K near the band edges. The estimated attainable power factors of 27.9(26.6)μWK-2cm-1 in plane for the (SrCrO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001) superlattice with P4/mmm(P21/c) symmetry and 28.1μWK-2cm-1 cross plane for the (SrMnO3)1/(SrTiO3)1(001) superlattice with P21/c symmetry compare favorably with some of the best-performing oxide thermoelectrics. This demonstrates that the idea to use quantum confinement to enhance the thermoelectric response in correlated transition-metal oxide superlattices [Phys. Rev. Mater. 2, 055403 (2018)2475-995310.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.055403] can be applied to a broader class of materials combinations. © 2019 American Physical Society.

Artificial complex-oxide heterostructures containing ultrathin buried layers grown along the pseudocubic [111] direction have been predicted to host a plethora of exotic quantum states arising from the graphene-like lattice geometry and the interplay between strong electronic correlations and band topology. To date, however, electronic-structural investigations of such atomic layers remain an immense challenge due to the shortcomings of conventional surface-sensitive probes with typical information depths of a few angstroms. Here, we use a combination of bulk-sensitive soft X-ray angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (SX-ARPES), hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES), and state-of-the-art first-principles calculations to demonstrate a direct and robust method for extracting momentum-resolved and angle-integrated valence-band electronic structure of an ultrathin buckled graphene-like layer of NdNiO3 confined between two 4-unit cell-thick layers of insulating LaAlO3. The momentum-resolved dispersion of the buried Ni d states near the Fermi level obtained via SX-ARPES is in excellent agreement with the first-principles calculations and establishes the realization of an antiferro-orbital order in this artificial lattice. The HAXPES measurements reveal the presence of a valence-band bandgap of 265 meV. Our findings open a promising avenue for designing and investigating quantum states of matter with exotic order and topology in a few buried layers. Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society.

By combining first-principles simulations including an on-site Coulomb-repulsion term and Boltzmann theory, we demonstrate how the interplay of quantum confinement and epitaxial strain allows one to selectively design n- and p-type thermoelectric response in (LaNiO3)3/(LaAlO3)1(001) superlattices. In particular, varying strain from -4.9% to 2.9% tunes the Ni orbital polarization at the interfaces from -6% to 3%. This is caused by an electron redistribution among Ni 3dx2-y2- and 3dz2-derived quantum-well states, which respond differently to strain. Owing to this charge transfer, the position of emerging cross-plane-transport resonances can be tuned relative to the Fermi energy. For moderate compressive strains of -1.5% and -2.8%, the cross-plane Seebeck coefficient reaches approximately -60 and 100μV/K at around room temperature, respectively. This provides a compelling mechanism to tailor thermoelectric materials. Finally, we demonstrate the robustness of the proposed concept with respect to oxygen-vacancy formation. © 2019 American Physical Society.

Using density functional theory calculations with a Hubbard U, we explore topologically nontrivial phases in X2O3 honeycomb layers with X= 4d and 5d cation inserted in the band insulator α-Al2O3 along the [0001]-direction. Several promising candidates for quantum anomalous Hall insulators (QAHI)are identified. In particular, for X = Tc and Pt spin-orbit coupling (SOC)opens a gap of 54 and 59 meV, respectively, leading to Chern insulators (CI)with C = −2 and −1. The nature of different Chern numbers is related to the corresponding spin textures. The Chern insulating phase is sensitive to the Coulomb repulsion strength: X = Tc undergoes a transition from a CI to a trivial metallic state beyond a critical strength of Uc=2.5 eV. A comparison between the isoelectronic metastable FM phases of X = Pd and Pt emphasizes the intricate balance between electronic correlations and SOC: while the former is a trivial insulator, the latter is a Chern insulator. In addition, X = Os turns out to be a FM Mott insulator with an unpaired electron in the t2g manifold where SOC induces an unusually high orbital moment of 0.34 μB along the z-axis. Parallels to the 3d honeycomb corundum cases are discussed. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

Motivated by recent theoretical studies predicting a large thermopower anisotropy in the layered delafossite PdCoO2, we have used pulsed laser deposition to synthesize thin films on (0001)-oriented and offcut Al2O3 substrates. By combining transport measurements on films with different offcut angles, tensor rotation relations, and an iterative fit procedure for the transport parameters, we have determined the resistivity and the thermopower along the main crystallographic axes in the temperature range 300-815 K. The data reveal a small positive Seebeck coefficient along the delafossite planes and a large negative Seebeck coefficient perpendicular to the planes, in excellent agreement with density functional calculations in the presence of moderate Coulomb correlations. The methodology introduced here is generally applicable for measurements of the thermoelectric properties of materials with highly anisotropic electronic structures. © 2019 American Physical Society.

The element specificity of soft X-ray spectroscopy makes it an ideal tool for analyzing the microscopic origin of ultrafast dynamics induced by localized optical excitation in metal-insulator heterostructures. Using [Fe/MgO]n as a model system, we perform ultraviolet pump/soft X-ray probe experiments, which are sensitive to all constituents of these heterostructures, to probe both electronic and lattice excitations. Complementary ultrafast electron diffraction experiments independently analyze the lattice dynamics of the Fe constituent, and together with ab initio calculations yield comprehensive insight into the microscopic processes leading to local relaxation within a single constituent or nonlocal relaxation between two constituents. Besides electronic excitations in Fe, which are monitored at the Fe L3 absorption edge and relax within 1 ps by electron-phonon coupling, soft X-ray analysis identifies a change at the oxygen K absorption edge of the MgO layers which occurs within 0.5 ps. This ultrafast energy transfer across the Fe-MgO interface is mediated by high-frequency, interface vibrational modes, which are excited by hot electrons in Fe and couple to vibrations in MgO in a mode-selective, nonthermal manner. A second, slower timescale is identified at the oxygen K pre-edge and the Fe L3 edge. The slower process represents energy transfer by acoustic phonons and contributes to thermalization of the entire heterostructure. We thus find that the interfacial energy transfer is associated with nonequilibrium behavior in the phonon system. Because our experiments lack signatures of charge transfer across the interface, we conclude that phonon-mediated processes dominate the competition of electronic and lattice excitations in these nonlocal, nonequilibrium dynamics. © 2019 American Physical Society.

SrTiO3 is a model perovskite compound with unique properties and technological relevance. At 105 K it undergoes a transition from a cubic to a tetragonal phase with characteristic antiferrodistortive rotations of the TiO6 octahedra. Here we study systematically the effect of different exchange-correlation functionals on the structural, electronic, and optical properties of cubic and tetragonal STO by comparing the recently implemented strongly constrained and appropriately normed (SCAN) meta-GGA functional with the generalized gradient approximation (PBE96 and PBEsol) and the hybrid functional (HSE06). SCAN is found to significantly improve the description of the structural properties, in particular the rotational angle of the tetragonal phase, comparable to HSE06 at a computational cost similar to GGA. The addition of a Hubbard U term (SCAN+U, U=7.45 eV) allows us to achieve the experimental band gap of 3.25 eV with a moderate increase in the lattice constant, whereas within GGA+U the gap is underestimated even for high U values. The effect of the exchange-correlation functional on the optical properties is progressively reduced from 1.5 eV variance in the onset of the spectrum in the independent particle picture to 0.3 eV upon inclusion of many-body effects within the framework of the GW approximation (single-shot G0W0) and excitonic corrections by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE). Moreover, a model BSE approach is shown to reproduce the main features of the optical spectrum at a lower cost compared to G0W0+BSE. Strong excitonic effects are found in agreement with previous results and their origin is analyzed based on the contributing interband transitions. Last but not least, the effect of the tetragonal distortion on the optical spectrum is discussed and compared to available experimental data. © 2019 American Physical Society.

Crystalline Co3O4 nanoparticles with a uniform size of 9 nm as shown by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were synthesized by thermal decomposition of cobalt acetylacetonate in oleylamine and applied in the oxidation of 2-propanol after calcination. The catalytic properties were derived under continuous flow conditions as a function of temperature up to 573 K in a fixed-bed reactor at atmospheric pressure. Temperature-programmed oxidation, desorption (TPD), surface reaction (TPSR), and 2-propanol decomposition experiments were performed to study the interaction of 2-propanol and O2 with the exposed spinel surfaces. Co3O4 selectively catalyzes the oxidative dehydrogenation of 2-propanol, yielding acetone and H2O and only to a minor extent the total oxidation to CO2 and H2O at higher temperatures. The high catalytic activity of Co3O4 reaching nearly full conversion with 100% selectivity to acetone at 430 K is attributed to the high amount of active Co3+ species at the catalyst surface as well as surface-bound reactive oxygen species observed in the O2 TPD, 2-propanol TPD, TPSR, and 2-propanol decomposition experiments. Density functional theory calculations with a Hubbard U term support the identification of the 5-fold-coordinated octahedral surface Co5c3+ as the active site, and oxidative dehydrogenation involving adsorbed atomic oxygen was found to be the energetically most favored pathway. The consumption of surface oxygen and reduction of Co3+ to Co2+ during 2-propanol oxidation derived from X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements before and after reaction and poisoning by strongly bound carbonaceous species result in the loss of the low-temperature activity, while the high-temperature reaction pathway remained unaffected. © 2019 American Chemical Society.

Hematite-based photoanodes have been intensively studied for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. The n-type dopant Sn has been shown to benefit the activity of hematite anodes. We demonstrate in this study that Sn-doped hematite thin films grown by atomic layer deposition can achieve uniform doping across the film thickness up to at least 32 mol%, far exceeding the equilibrium solubility limit of less than 1 mol%. On the other hand, with the introduction of Sn doping, the hematite crystallite size decreases and many twin boundaries form in the film, which may contribute to the low photocurrent observed in these films. Density functional theory calculations with a Hubbard U term show that Sn doping has multiple effects on the hematite properties. With increasing Sn4+ content, the Fe2+ concentration increases, leading to a reduction of the band gap and finally to a metallic state. This goes hand in hand with an increase of the lattice constant. ©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 2019.

LaTiO3 films on SrTiO3 single crystal substrates exhibit metallic behavior attributed to the LaTiO3 film, the interface as well as part of the SrTiO3. In the limit of ultrathin LaTiO3 films on SrTiO3, the contribution to the metallicity from strain-induced electronic structure modification of the LaTiO3 film is minimized so that the dominant contribution to metallicity is from the interface and part of the SrTiO3 due to charge transfer of 3d electrons from LaTiO3 to SrTiO3. In such a limit, we observe quantum oscillations whose angular dependence indicates a three-dimensional Fermi surface. Such angular dependence is observed in two sets of quantum oscillations - one low frequency and one high frequency - that we have attributed to an inner and outer Fermi surface associated with a Rashba-like spin split hybridized dxz+yz band. © 2019 American Physical Society.

Nanostructured materials are essential building blocks for the fabrication of new devices for energy harvesting/storage, sensing, catalysis, magnetic, and optoelectronic applications. However, because of the increase of technological needs, it is essential to identify new functional materials and improve the properties of existing ones. The objective of this Viewpoint is to examine the state of the art of atomic-scale simulative and experimental protocols aimed to the design of novel functional nanostructured materials, and to present new perspectives in the relative fields. This is the result of the debates of Symposium I "Atomic-scale design protocols towards energy, electronic, catalysis, and sensing applications", which took place within the 2018 European Materials Research Society fall meeting. © 2019 American Chemical Society.

By combining ab initio simulations including an on-site Coulomb repulsion term and Boltzmann theory, we explore the thermoelectric properties of (LaNiO3)n/(LaAlO3)n(001) superlattices (n=1,3) and identify a strong dependence on confinement, spacer thickness, and epitaxial strain. While the system with n=3 shows modest values of the Seebeck coefficient and power factor, the simultaneous reduction of the LaNiO3 region and the LaAlO3 spacer thickness to single layers results in a strong enhancement, in particular of the in-plane values. This effect can be further tuned by using epitaxial strain as a control parameter: Under tensile strain corresponding to the lateral lattice constant of SrTiO3 we predict in- and cross-plane Seebeck coefficients of ±600μV/K and an in-plane power factor of 11μW/K2cm for an estimated relaxation time of τ=4 fs around room temperature. These values are comparable to some of the best performing oxide systems such as La-doped SrTiO3 or layered cobaltates and are associated with the opening of a small gap (0.29 eV) induced by the concomitant effect of octahedral tilting and Ni-site disproportionation. This establishes oxide superlattices at the verge of a metal-to-insulator transition driven by confinement and strain as promising candidates for thermoelectric materials. © 2018 American Physical Society.

The search for robust examples of the magnetic version of topological insulators, referred to as quantum anomalous Hall insulators or simply Chern insulators, so far lacks success. Our groups have explored two distinct possibilities based on multiorbital 3d oxide honeycomb lattices. Each has a Chern insulating phase near the ground state, but materials parameters were not appropriate to produce a viable Chern insulator. Further exploration of one of these classes, by substituting open shell 3d with 4d and 5d counterparts, has led to realistic prediction of Chern insulating ground states. Here we recount the design process, discussing the many energy scales that are active in participating (or resisting) the desired Chern insulator phase. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Layer-by-layer oxide molecular-beam epitaxy has been used to synthesize cuprate-nickelate multilayer structures of composition (La2CuO4)m/LaO/(LaNiO3)n. In a combined experimental and theoretical study, we show that these structures allow a clean separation of dopant and doped layers. Specifically, the LaO layer separating cuprate and nickelate blocks provides an additional charge that, according to density-functional theory calculations, is predominantly accommodated in the interfacial nickelate layers. This is reflected in an elongation of bond distances and changes in valence state, as observed by scanning transmission electron microscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Moreover, the predicted charge disproportionation in the nickelate interface layers leads to a metal-to-insulator transition when the thickness is reduced to n=2, as observed in electrical transport measurements. The results exemplify the perspectives of charge transfer in metal-oxide multilayers to induce doping without introducing chemical and structural disorder. © 2018 American Physical Society.

Heusler alloys exhibiting magnetic and martensitic transitions enable applications like magnetocaloric refrigeration and actuation based on the magnetic shape memory effect. Their outstanding functional properties depend on low hysteresis losses and low actuation fields. These are only achieved if the atomic positions deviate from a tetragonal lattice by periodic displacements. The origin of the so-called modulated structures is the subject of much controversy: They are either explained by phonon softening or adaptive nanotwinning. Here we used large-scale density functional theory calculations on the Ni2MnGa prototype system to demonstrate interaction energy between twin boundaries. Minimizing the interaction energy resulted in the experimentally observed ordered modulations at the atomic scale, it explained that a/b twin boundaries are stacking faults at the mesoscale, and contributed to the macroscopic hysteresis losses. Furthermore, we found that phonon softening paves the transformation path towards the nanotwinned martensite state. This unified both opposing concepts to explain modulated martensite. © 2018 The Author(s).

The manipulation of the spin degrees of freedom in a solid has been of fundamental and technological interest recently for developing high-speed, low-power computational devices. There has been much work focused on developing highly spin-polarized materials and understanding their behavior when incorporated into so-called spintronic devices. These devices usually require spin splitting with magnetic fields. However, there is another promising strategy to achieve spin splitting using spatial symmetry breaking without the use of a magnetic field, known as Rashba-type splitting. Here we report evidence for a giant Rashba-type splitting at the interface of LaTiO3 and SrTiO3. Analysis of the magnetotransport reveals anisotropic magnetoresistance, weak anti-localization and quantum oscillation behavior consistent with a large Rashba-type splitting. It is surprising to find a large Rashba-type splitting in 3d transition metal oxide-based systems such as the LaTiO3/SrTiO3 interface, but it is promising for the development of a new kind of oxide-based spintronics. © 2018 The Author(s).

Using density functional theory calculations with an on-site Hubbard term (DFT+U), we explore the effect of surface termination and cation substitution on the performance of the CoxNi1-xFe2O4(001) surface (x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0) as an anode material in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Different reaction sites (Fe, Co, Ni, and an oxygen vacancy) were investigated at three terminations: the B-layer with octahedrally coordinated Co/Ni and with an additional half and full monolayer of Fe (0.5A and A-layer, respectively). Ni substitution with an equal concentration of Co and Ni (x = 0.5) reduces the overpotential over the end members for the majority of reaction sites. Surface Co cations are identified as the active sites and the ones at the A-layer termination for x = 0.5 exhibit one of the lowest theoretically reported overpotentials of 0.26 V. The effect of the additional iron layer on the active site modification is 2-fold: analysis of the electronic properties and spin densities indicates that the additional Fe layer stabilizes a bulk-like oxidation state of +2 for Co and Ni at the A-layer termination, whereas at the B-layer termination, they are oxidized to 3+. Moreover, the unusual relaxation pattern enables the formation of a hydrogen bond of the OOH intermediate to a neighboring surface oxygen that lowers the reaction free energy of this formerly rate-limiting step, leading to a deviation from the scaling relationship and almost equidistant reaction free-energy steps of intermediates. This renders an example of how a selective surface modification can result in a significant improvement of OER performance. © 2018 American Chemical Society.

Cation substitution in transition-metal oxides is an important approach to improve electrocatalysts by the optimization of their composition. Herein, we report on phase-pure spinel-type CoV2-xFexO4 nanoparticles with 0 ≤ x ≤ 2 as a new class of bifunctional catalysts for the oxygen evolution (OER) and oxygen reduction reactions (ORR). The mixed-metal oxide catalysts exhibit high catalytic activity for both OER and ORR that strongly depends on the V and Fe content. CoV2O4 is known to exhibit a high conductivity, while in CoFe2O4 the cobalt cation distribution is expected to change due to the inversion of the spinel structure. The optimized catalyst, CoV1.5Fe0.5O4, shows an overpotential for the OER of â300 mV for 10 mA cm-2 with a Tafel slope of 38 mV dec-1 in alkaline electrolyte. DFT+U+SOC calculations on cation ordering confirm the tendency toward the inverse spinel structure with increasing Fe concentration in CoV2-xFexO4 that starts to dominate already at low Fe contents. The theoretical results also show that the variations of oxidation states are related to the surface region, where the redox activity was found experimentally to be manifested in the transformation of V3+ ↠V2+. The high catalytic activity, facile synthesis, and low cost of the CoV2-xFexO4 nanoparticles render them very promising for application in bifunctional electrocatalysis. © 2017 American Chemical Society.

Polar crystals composed of charged ionic planes cannot exist in nature without acquiring surface changes to balance an ever-growing dipole. The necessary changes can manifest structurally or electronically as observed in semiconductors and ferroelectric materials through screening charges and/or domain wall formation. In the case of prototypical polar complex oxides such as the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 system the nature of screening charges for different interface terminations is not symmetric. Electron accumulation is observed near the LaAlO3/TiO2-SrTiO3 interface, while the LaAlO3/SrO-SrTiO3 stack is insulating. Here, we observe evidence for an asymmetry in the surface chemical termination for nominally stoichiometric LaAlO3 films in contact with the two different surface layers of SrTiO3 crystals, TiO2 and SrO. Using several element-specific probes, we find that the surface termination of LaAlO3 remains AlO2 irrespective of the starting termination of SrTiO3 substrate surface. We use a combination of cross-plane tunneling measurements and first-principles calculations to understand the effects of this unexpected termination on band alignments and polarity compensation of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures. An asymmetry in LaAlO3 polarity compensation and resulting electronic properties will fundamentally limit atomic level control of oxide heterostructures. © 2018 American Physical Society.

The beneficial effects of Sn(IV) as a dopant in ultrathin hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) photoanodes for water oxidation are examined. Different Sn concentration profiles are prepared by alternating atomic layer deposition of Fe 2 O 3 and SnO x . Combined data from spectrophotometry and intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy yields the individual process efficiencies for light harvesting, charge separation, and charge transfer. The best performing photoanodes are Sn-doped both on the surface and in the subsurface region and benefit from enhanced charge separation and transfer. Sn-doping throughout the bulk of the hematite photoanode causes segregation at the grain boundaries and hence a lower overall efficiency. Fe 2 O 3 (0001) and terminations, shown to be dominant by microstructural analysis, are investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The energetics of surface intermediates during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) reveal that while Sn-doping decreases the overpotential on the (0001) surface, the Fe 2 O 3 orientation shows one of the lowest overpotentials reported for hematite so far. Electronic structure calculations demonstrate that Sn-doping on the surface also enhances the charge transfer efficiency by elimination of surface hole trap states (passivation) and that subsurface Sn-doping introduces a gradient of the band edges that reinforces the band bending at the semiconductor/electrolyte interface and thus boosts charge separation. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

We investigate the structural, electronic, transport, and thermoelectric properties of LaNiO3/SrTiO3(001) superlattices containing either exclusively n- or p-type interfaces or coupled interfaces of opposite polarity by using density functional theory calculations with an on-site Coulomb repulsion term. The results show that significant octahedral tilts are induced in the SrTiO3 part of the superlattice. Moreover, the La-Sr distances and Ni-O out-of-plane bond lengths at the interfaces exhibit a distinct variation by about 7% with the sign of the electrostatic doping. In contrast to the much studied LaAlO3/SrTiO3 system, the charge mismatch at the interfaces is exclusively accommodated within the LaNiO3 layers, whereas the interface polarity leads to a band offset and to the formation of an electric field within the coupled superlattice. Features of the electronic structure indicate an orbital-selective quantization of quantum well states. The potential- and confinement-induced multiband splitting results in complex cylindrical Fermi surfaces with a tendency towards nesting that depends on the interface polarity. The analysis of the thermoelectric response reveals a particularly large positive Seebeck coefficient (135μV/K) and a high figure of merit (0.35) for room-temperature cross-plane transport in the p-type superlattice that is attributed to the participation of the SrTiO3 valence band. Superlattices with either n- or p-type interfaces show cross-plane Seebeck coefficients of opposite sign and thus emerge as a platform to construct an oxide-based thermoelectric generator with structurally and electronically compatible n- and p-type oxide thermoelectrics. © 2017 American Physical Society.

The phase stabilities and ordering tendencies in the quaternary full-Heusler alloys NiCoMnAl and NiCoMnGa have been investigated by in situ neutron diffraction, calorimetry, and magnetization measurements. NiCoMnGa was found to adopt the L21 structure, with distinct Mn and Ga sublattices but a common Ni-Co sublattice. A second-order phase transition to the B2 phase with disorder also between Mn and Ga was observed at 1160K. In contrast, in NiCoMnAl slow cooling or low-temperature annealing treatments are required to induce incipient L21 ordering, otherwise the system displays only B2 order. Linked to L21 ordering, a drastic increase in the magnetic transition temperature was observed in NiCoMnAl, while annealing affected the magnetic behavior of NiCoMnGa only weakly due to the low degree of quenched-in disorder. First principles calculations were employed to study the thermodynamics as well as order-dependent electronic properties of both compounds. It was found that a near half-metallic pseudogap emerges in the minority spin channel only for the completely ordered Y structure. However, this structure is energetically unstable compared to a tetragonal structure with alternating layers of Ni and Co, which is predicted to be the low-temperature ground state. The experimental inaccessibility of the totally ordered structures is explained by kinetic limitations due to the low ordering energies. © 2017 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.

The influence of nanoscale on the formation of metastable phases is an important aspect of nanostructuring that can lead to the discovery of unusual material compositions. Here, the synthesis, structural characterization, and electrochemical performance of Ni/Co mixed oxide nanocrystals in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is reported and the influence of nanoscaling on their composition and solubility range is investigated. Using a solvothermal synthesis in tert-butanol ultrasmall crystalline and highly dispersible Ni x Co1− x O nanoparticles with rock salt type structure are obtained. The mixed oxides feature non-equilibrium phases with unusual miscibility in the whole composition range, which is attributed to a stabilizing effect of the nanoscale combined with kinetic control of particle formation. Substitutional incorporation of Co and Ni atoms into the rock salt lattice has a remarkable effect on the formal potentials of NiO oxidation that shift continuously to lower values with increasing Co content. This can be related to a monotonic reduction of the work function of (001) and (111)-oriented surfaces with an increase in Co content, as obtained from density functional theory (DFT+U) calculations. Furthermore, the electrocatalytic performance of the Ni x Co1− x O nanoparticles in water splitting changes significantly. OER activity continuously increases with increasing Ni contents, while HER activity shows an opposite trend, increasing for higher Co contents. The high electrocatalytic activity and tunable performance of the nonequilibrium Ni x Co1− x O nanoparticles in HER and OER demonstrate great potential in the design of electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Sub-10 nm CoFe2O4 nanoparticles with different sizes and various compositions obtained by (partial) substitution of Co with Ni cations have been synthesized by using a one-pot method from organic solutions by the decomposition of metal acetylacetonates in the presence of oleylamine. The electrocatalytic activity of CoFe2O4 towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is clearly enhanced with a smaller size (3.1 nm) of the CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (compared with 4.5 and 5.9 nm). In addition, the catalytic activity is improved by partial substitution of Co with Ni, which also leads to a higher degree of inversion of the spinel structure. Theoretical calculations attribute the positive catalytic effect of Ni owing to the lower binding energy differences between adsorbed O and OH compared with pure cobalt or nickel ferrites, resulting in higher OER activity. Co0.5Ni0.5Fe2O4 exhibited a low overpotential of approximately 340 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a smaller Tafel slope of 51 mV dec−1, and stability over 30 h. The unique tunability of these CoFe2O4 nanocrystals provides great potential for their application as an efficient and competitive anode material in the field of electrochemical water splitting as well as for systematic fundamental studies aiming at understanding the correlation of composition and structure with performance in electrocatalysis. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

LaNiO3 (LNO) is an intriguing member of the rare-earth nickelates in exhibiting a metal-insulator transition for a critical film thickness of about 4 unit cells [Son et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 062114 (2010)]; however, such thin films also show a transition to a metallic state in superlattices with SrTiO3 (STO) [Son et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 202109 (2010)]. In order to better understand this transition, we have studied a strained LNO/STO superlattice with 10 repeats of [4 unit-cell LNO/3 unit-cell STO] grown on an (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 substrate using soft x-ray standing-wave-excited angle-resolved photoemission (SWARPES), together with soft- and hard- x-ray photoemission measurements of core levels and densities-of-states valence spectra. The experimental results are compared with state-of-the-art density functional theory (DFT) calculations of band structures and densities of states. Using core-level rocking curves and x-ray optical modeling to assess the position of the standing wave, SWARPES measurements are carried out for various incidence angles and used to determine interface-specific changes in momentum-resolved electronic structure. We further show that the momentum-resolved behavior of the Ni 3d eg and t2g states near the Fermi level, as well as those at the bottom of the valence bands, is very similar to recently published SWARPES results for a related La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrTiO3 superlattice that was studied using the same technique (Gray et al., Europhysics Letters 104, 17004 (2013)), which further validates this experimental approach and our conclusions. Our conclusions are also supported in several ways by comparison to DFT calculations for the parent materials and the superlattice, including layer-resolved density-of-states results. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

Perovskite (LaXO3)2/(LaAlO3)4(111) superlattices with X spanning the entire 3d transition-metal series combine the strongly correlated, multiorbital nature of electrons in transition-metal oxides with a honeycomb lattice as a key feature. Based on density functional theory calculations including strong interaction effects, we establish trends in the evolution of electronic states as a function of several control parameters: band filling, interaction strength, spin-orbit coupling (SOC), and lattice instabilities. Competition between local pseudocubic and global trigonal symmetry as well as the additional flexibility provided by the magnetic and spin degrees of freedom of 3d ions lead to a broad array of distinctive broken-symmetry ground states not accessible for the (001)-growth direction, offering a platform to design two-dimensional electronic functionalities. Constraining the symmetry between the two triangular sublattices causes X=Mn, Co, and Ti to emerge as Chern insulators driven by SOC. For X=Mn we illustrate how interaction strength and lattice distortions can tune these systems between a Dirac semimetal, a Chern and a trivial Mott insulator. © 2016 American Physical Society.

PbPdO2 is a band semiconductor with a band gap arising from the filled d8 nature of square-planar Pd2+. We establish that hole doping through Li substitution for Pd in PbPdO2 results in a p-type metallic oxide with a positive temperature coefficient of resistance for substitution amounts as small as 2 mol % Li for Pd. Furthermore, PbPd1-xLixO2 demonstrates a high Seebeck coefficient and is therefore an oxide thermoelectric material with high thermopower despite the metallic conductivity. Up to 4 mol % Li is found to substitute for Pd as verified by Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data. At this maximal Li substitution, the resistivity is driven below the Mott metallic maximum to 3.5 × 10-3 ω cm with a Seebeck coefficient of 115 μV/K at room temperature, which increases to 175 μV/K at 600 K. These electrical properties are almost identical to those of the well-known p-type oxide thermoelectric NaxCoO2. Nonmagnetic Li-substituted PbPdO2 does not possess a correlated, magnetic state with high-spin degeneracy as found in some complex cobalt oxides. This suggests that there are other avenues to achieving high Seebeck coefficients with metallic conductivities in oxide thermoelectrics. The electrical properties coupled with the moderately low lattice thermal conductivities allow for a zT of 0.12 at 600 K, the maximal temperature measured here. The trend suggests yet higher values at elevated temperatures. First-principles calculations of the electronic structure and electrical transport provide insight into the observed properties. © 2016 American Chemical Society.

We present phonon dispersions, element-resolved vibrational density of states (VDOS) and corresponding thermodynamic properties obtained by a combination of density functional theory (DFT) and nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (NRIXS) across the metamagnetic transition of B2 FeRh in the bulk material and thin epitaxial films. We see distinct differences in the VDOS of the antiferromagnetic (AF) and ferromagnetic (FM) phases, which provide a microscopic proof of strong spin-phonon coupling in FeRh. The FM VDOS exhibits a particular sensitivity to the slight tetragonal distortions present in epitaxial films, which is not encountered in the AF phase. This results in a notable change in lattice entropy, which is important for the comparison between thin film and bulk results. Our calculations confirm the recently reported lattice instability in the AF phase. The imaginary frequencies at the X point depend critically on the Fe magnetic moment and atomic volume. Analyzing these nonvibrational modes leads to the discovery of a stable monoclinic ground-state structure, which is robustly predicted from DFT but not verified in our thin film experiments. Specific heat, entropy, and free energy calculated within the quasiharmonic approximation suggest that the new phase is possibly suppressed because of its relatively smaller lattice entropy. In the bulk phase, lattice vibrations contribute with the same sign and in similar magnitude to the isostructural AF-FM phase transition as excitations of the electronic and magnetic subsystems demonstrating that lattice degrees of freedom need to be included in thermodynamic modeling. © 2016 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Deterministic control over the periodic geometrical arrangement of the constituent atoms is the backbone of the material properties, which, along with the interactions, define the electronic and magnetic ground state. Following this notion, a bilayer of a prototypical rare-earth nickelate, NdNiO3, combined with a dielectric spacer, LaAlO3, has been layered along the pseudocubic [111] direction. The resulting artificial graphenelike Mott crystal with magnetic 3d electrons has antiferromagnetic correlations. In addition, a combination of resonant X-ray linear dichroism measurements and ab initio calculations reveal the presence of an ordered orbital pattern, which is unattainable in either bulk nickelates or nickelate based heterostructures grown along the [001] direction. These findings highlight another promising venue towards designing new quantum many-body states by virtue of geometrical engineering. © 2016 American Physical Society.

We report on a strain-induced martensitic transformation, accompanied by a suppression of magnetic order in epitaxial films of chemically disordered FeRh. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and electronic structure calculations reveal that the lowering of symmetry (from cubic to tetragonal) imposed by the epitaxial relation leads to a further, unexpected, tetragonal-to-orthorhombic transition, triggered by a band-Jahn-Teller-type lattice instability. The collapse of magnetic order is a direct consequence of this structural change, which upsets the subtle balance between ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interactions arising from Fe-Rh hybridization and frustrated antiferromagnetic coupling among localized Fe moments at larger distances. © 2016 American Physical Society.

Oxide electronic materials provide a plethora of possible applications and offer ample opportunity for scientists to probe into some of the exciting and intriguing phenomena exhibited by oxide systems and oxide interfaces. In addition to the already diverse spectrum of properties, the nanoscale form of oxides provides a new dimension of hitherto unknown phenomena due to the increased surface-to-volume ratio. Oxide electronic materials are becoming increasingly important in a wide range of applications including transparent electronics, optoelectronics, magnetoelectronics, photonics, spintronics, thermoelectrics, piezoelectrics, power harvesting, hydrogen storage and environmental waste management. Synthesis and fabrication of these materials, as well as processing into particular device structures to suit a specific application is still a challenge. Further, characterization of these materials to understand the tunability of their properties and the novel properties that evolve due to their nanostructured nature is another facet of the challenge. The research related to the oxide electronic field is at an impressionable stage, and this has motivated us to contribute with a roadmap on 'oxide electronic materials and oxide interfaces'. This roadmap envisages the potential applications of oxide materials in cutting edge technologies and focuses on the necessary advances required to implement these materials, including both conventional and novel techniques for the synthesis, characterization, processing and fabrication of nanostructured oxides and oxide-based devices. The contents of this roadmap will highlight the functional and correlated properties of oxides in bulk, nano, thin film, multilayer and heterostructure forms, as well as the theoretical considerations behind both present and future applications in many technologically important areas as pointed out by Venkatesan. The contributions in this roadmap span several thematic groups which are represented by the following authors: novel field effect transistors and bipolar devices by Fortunato, Grundmann, Boschker, Rao, and Rogers; energy conversion and saving by Zaban, Weidenkaff, and Murakami; new opportunities of photonics by Fompeyrine, and Zuniga-Perez; multiferroic materials including novel phenomena by Ramesh, Spaldin, Mertig, Lorenz, Srinivasan, and Prellier; and concepts for topological oxide electronics by Kawasaki, Pentcheva, and Gegenwart. Finally, Miletto Granozio presents the European action 'towards oxide-based electronics' which develops an oxide electronics roadmap with emphasis on future nonvolatile memories and the required technologies. In summary, we do hope that this oxide roadmap appears as an interesting up-to-date snapshot on one of the most exciting and active areas of solid state physics, materials science, and chemistry, which even after many years of very successful development shows in short intervals novel insights and achievements. Guest editors: M S Ramachandra Rao and Michael Lorenz. © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd.

The diverse functionality emerging at oxide interfaces calls for a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms and control parameters of electronic reconstructions. Here, we explore the evolution of electronic phases in (LaAlO3) M/(SrTiO3) N (001) superlattices as a function of strain and confinement of the SrTiO 3 quantum well. Density functional theory calculations including a Hubbard U term reveal a charge ordered Ti3+ and Ti4+ state for N = 2 with an unanticipated orbital reconstruction, displaying alternating d xz and d yz character at the Ti3+ sites, unlike the previously reported d xy state, obtained only for reduced c-parameter at a STO. At a LAO c-compression leads to a Dimer-Mott insulator with alternating d xz, d yz sites and an almost zero band gap. Beyond a critical thickness of N = 3 (a STO) and N = 4 (a LAO) an insulator-to-metal transition takes place, where the extra e/2 electron at the interface is redistributed throughout the STO slab with a d xy interface orbital occupation and a mixed d xz + d yz occupation in the inner layers. Chemical variation of the SrTiO3 counterpart (LaAlO3 vs. NdGaO3) proves that the significant octahedral tilts and distortions in the SrTiO3 quantum well are induced primarily by the electrostatic doping at the polar interface and not by variation of the SrTiO3 counterpart.

Polar oxide interfaces are an important focus of research due to their novel functionality which is not available in the bulk constituents. So far, research has focused mainly on heterointerfaces derived from the perovskite structure. It is important to extend our understanding of electronic reconstruction phenomena to a broader class of materials and structure types. Here we report from high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and quantitative magnetometry a robust - above room temperature (Curie temperature TC 蠑 300 K) - environmentally stable- ferromagnetically coupled interface layer between the antiferromagnetic rocksalt CoO core and a 2-4 nm thick antiferromagnetic spinel Co3O4 surface layer in octahedron-shaped nanocrystals. Density functional theory calculations with an on-site Coulomb repulsion parameter identify the origin of the experimentally observed ferromagnetic phase as a charge transfer process (partial reduction) of Co3+ to Co2+ at the CoO/Co3O4 interface, with Co2+ being in the low spin state, unlike the high spin state of its counterpart in CoO. This finding may serve as a guideline for designing new functional nanomagnets based on oxidation resistant antiferromagnetic transition metal oxides.

By a combination of first-principles calculations and semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory, we investigate the effect of epitaxial strain on the electronic structure and transport properties of PtCoO2 and PdCoO2. In contrast to the rather uniform elastic response of both systems, we predict for PtCoO2 a high sensitivity of the out-of-plane transport properties to strain, which is not present in PdCoO2. At ambient temperature we identify a considerable absolute change in the thermopower from -107μV/K at -5% compressive strain to -303μV/K at +5% tensile strain. This remarkable response is related to distinct changes of the Fermi surface, which involve the crossing of two additional bands at a moderate compressive in-plane strain. Combining our transport results with available experimental data on electrical and lattice thermal conductivity we predict a thermoelectric figure of merit of up to ZT=0.25 at T=600 K for strained PtCoO2. © 2015 American Physical Society.

The interface between hematite (α-Fe2 IIIO3) and ilmenite (FeIITiO3), a weak ferrimagnet and an antiferromagnet, respectively, has been suggested to be strongly ferrimagnetic due to the formation of a mixed valence layer of Fe2+/Fe3+ (1:1 ratio) caused by compensation of charge mismatch at the chemically abrupt boundary. Here, we report for the first time direct experimental evidence for a chemically distinct layer emerging at heterointerfaces in the hematite—Ti-doped-hematite system. Using molecular beam epitaxy, we have grown thin films (~25 nm thickness) of α-Fe2O3 on α-Al2O3 (0001) substrates, which were capped with a ~25 nm thick Fe2−xTixO3 layer (x = 0.44). An additional 3 nm cap of α-Fe2O3 was deposited on top. The films were structurally characterized in situ with surface X-ray diffraction, which showed a partial low index orientation relationship between film and substrate in terms of the [0001] axis and revealed two predominant domains with (Formula presented.) one with (Formula presented.) and a twin domain with (Formula presented.). Electron energy loss spectroscopy profiles across the Fe2−xTixO3/Fe2O3 interface show that Fe2+/Fe3+ ratios peak right at the interface. This strongly suggests the formation of a chemically distinct interface layer, which might also be magnetically distinct as indicated by the observed magnetic enhancement in the Fe2−xTixO3/α-Fe2O3/Al2O3 system compared to the pure α-Fe2O3/Al2O3 system. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

A set of broken-symmetry two-dimensional ground states is predicted in (111)-oriented (LaNiO3)N/(LaAlO3)M (N/M) superlattices, based on density functional theory calculations including a Hubbard U term. An unanticipated Jahn-Teller distortion with dz2 orbital polarization and a ferromagnetic Mott-insulating (and multiferroic) phase emerges in the double perovskite (1/1), that shows strong susceptibility to strain-controlled orbital engineering. The LaNiO3 bilayer with graphene topology has a switchable multiferroic (ferromagnetic and ferroelectric) insulating ground state with inequivalent Ni sites. Beyond N=3 the confined LaNiO3 slab undergoes a metal-to-insulator transition through a half-semimetallic phase with conduction originating from the interfaces. Antiferromagnetic arrangements allow combining motifs of the bilayer and single trigonal layer band structures in designed artificial mixed phases. © 2014 American Physical Society.

Perovskite materials engineered in epitaxial heterostructures have been intensely investigated during the last decade. The interface formed by an LaAlO3 thin film grown on top of a TiO2-terminated SrTiO3 substrate hosts a two-dimensional electronic system and has become the prototypical example of this field. Although controversy exists regarding some of its physical properties and their precise origin, it is universally found that conductivity only appears beyond an LaAlO 3thickness threshold of four unit cells. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that this critical thickness can be reduced to just one unit cell when a metallic film of cobalt is deposited on top of LaAlO3. First-principles calculations indicate that Co modifies the electrostatic boundary conditions and induces a charge transfer towards the Ti 3d bands, supporting the electrostatic origin of the electronic system at the LaAlO 3 /SrTiO3 interface. Our results expand the interest of this low-dimensional oxide system from in-plane to perpendicular transport and to the exploration of elastic and inelastic tunnel-type transport of (spin-polarized) carriers. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

On the basis of periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations including an on-site Coulomb repulsion term U, we study the adsorption mechanism of arsenate on the goethite (101), akaganeite (100), and lepidocrocite (010) surfaces. Mono- and bidentate binding configurations of arsenate complexes are considered at two distinct iron surface sites - directly at 5-fold coordinated Fe1 and/or 4-fold coordinated Fe2 as well as involving ligand exchange. The results obtained within ab initio thermodynamics shed light on the ongoing controversy on the arsenate adsorption configuration, and we identify monodentate adsorbed arsenate complexes as stable configurations at ambient conditions with a strong preference for protonated arsenate complexes: a monodentate mononuclear complex at Fe1 (dFe1-As = 3.45 Å) at goethite (101) and a monodentate binuclear complex at Fe2 (dFe2-As = 3.29 Å) at akaganeite (100). Repulsive interactions between the complexes limit the loading capacity and promote configurations with maximized distances between the adsorbates. With decreasing oxygen pressures, a mixed adsorption of bidentate binuclear complexes at Fe1 (dFe1-As = 3.26-3.34 Å) and monodentate binuclear arsenate at Fe2 (dFe2-As = 3.31-3.50 Å) and, finally, rows of protonated bidentate complexes at Fe1 with d Fe1-As = 3.55-3.59 Å are favored at α-FeOOH(101) and β-FeOOH(100). At lepidocrocite (010) with only Fe2 sites exposed, the surface phase diagram is dominated by alternating protonated monodentate binuclear complexes (dFe2-As = 3.38 Å) and hydroxyl groups. At low oxygen pressures, alternating rows of protonated bidentate mononuclear complexes (dFe2-As = 3.10 Å) and water are present. Hydrogen bond formation to surface hydroxyl groups and water plays a crucial role in the stabilization of these adsorbate configurations and together with steric effects of the oxygen lone pairs leads to tilting of the arsenate complex that significantly reduces the Fe-As distance. Our results show that the Fe-As bond length is mainly determined by the protonation state, arsenate coverage, steric effects, and hydrogen bonding to surface functional groups and to a lesser extent by the adsorption mode. This demonstrates that the Fe-As distance cannot be used as a unique criterion to discriminate between adsorption modes. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Density functional theory calculations with an on-site Coulomb repulsion term reveal competing ground states in (111)-oriented (LaAlO3) M/(SrTiO3)N superlattices with n-type interfaces, ranging from spin, orbitally polarized (with selective eg′, a1g, or dxy occupation), Dirac point Fermi surface, to charge-ordered flat band phases. These phases are steered by the interplay of (i) Hubbard U, (ii) SrTiO3 quantum well thickness, and (iii) crystal field splitting tied to in-plane strain. In the honeycomb lattice bilayer N=2 under tensile strain, inversion symmetry breaking drives the system from a ferromagnetic Dirac point (massless Weyl semimetal) to a charge-ordered multiferroic (ferromagnetic and ferroelectric) flat band massive (insulating) phase. With increasing SrTiO3 quantum well thickness an insulator-to-metal transition occurs. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is a powerful technique for the study of electronic structure, but it lacks a direct ability to study buried interfaces between two materials. We address this limitation by combining ARPES with soft X-ray standing-wave (SW) excitation (SWARPES), in which the SW profile is scanned through the depth of the sample. We have studied the buried interface in a prototypical magnetic tunnel junction La0.7Sr 0.3MnO3/SrTiO3. Depth-and momentum-resolved maps of Mn 3d eg and t2g states from the central, bulk-like and interface-like regions of La0.7Sr0.3MnO 3 exhibit distinctly different behavior consistent with a change in the Mn bonding at the interface. We compare the experimental results to state-of-the-art density-functional and one-step photoemission theory, with encouraging agreement that suggests wide future applications of this technique. © Copyright EPLA, 2013.

Reduced terminations of the Fe3O4(001) surface were studied using scanning tunneling microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and density functional theory (DFT). Fe atoms, deposited onto the thermodynamically stable, distorted B-layer termination at room temperature (RT), occupy one of two available tetrahedrally coordinated sites per (√2×√2)R45 unit cell. Further RT deposition results in Fe clusters. With mild annealing, a second Fe adatom per unit cell is accommodated, though not in the second tetrahedral site. Rather both Fe atoms reside in octahedral coordinated sites, leading to a "Fe-dimer" termination. At four additional Fe atoms per unit cell, all surface octahedral sites are occupied, resulting in a FeO(001)-like phase. The observed configurations are consistent with the calculated surface phase diagram. Both XPS and DFT+U results indicate a progressive reduction of surface iron from Fe3+ to Fe2+ upon Fe deposition. The antiferromagnetic FeO layer on top of ferromagnetic Fe3O4(001) suggests possible exchange bias in this system. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Structural and electronic spin transitions in high-pressure ε-FeOOH are studied using a combination of high pressure X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Using XES, a high- to low-spin transition in trivalent iron is found in ε-FeOOH on compression between 40 and 60 GPa. This is accompanied by a sudden discontinuity in unit cell volume at 53( ± 2) GPa, obtained from XRD data collected over the same compression range. These results are consistent with DFT calculations using an on-site Coulomb repulsion term (GGA+U), which predict a spin transition in ε-FeOOH at 64.8 GPa. A second order phase transition from P21nm to Pnnm is predicted from DFT at ~43 GPa and evidenced in the XRD data from the anisotropic stiffening of the lattice parameters around the spin transition. In addition, the DFT results give evidence that the spin collapse is assisted by symmetrization of hydrogen bonds during the transition from P21nm to Pnnm. As the presence of hydrogen, even in small quantities, can affect phase relations, melting temperature, rheology, and other key properties of the Earth's mantle, our study unveils a connection between water (hydroxyl) content and the spin-transition pressure of Fe3+ in the Earth's mantle. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

The interaction of water with the Fe3O4(001) surface was investigated in a combined ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) study. The uptake of molecular water and hydroxyl species on the (001) surface of a natural magnetite sample at near-ambient conditions was quantified using O 1s spectra taken in the p(H 2O) range from 10-9 to 2 Torr. At low p(H2O) (≤10-4-10-5 Torr) and room temperature, we found that water does not adsorb dissociatively on the surface, except on defect sites. In contrast, progressive dissociation into surface hydroxyl species was observed between 10-4 and 10-2 Torr p(H2O). The onset of hydroxylation coincides with the increasing presence of molecular water species on the surface, which demonstrates the key role played by cooperative interactions between adsorbed water molecules, leading to dissociation and surface hydroxylation. The measured O 1s chemical shifts of hydroxyl and molecular water species from both isotherm and isobar data are on average ∼1.2 eV and ∼3.3 eV, respectively, relative to lattice oxygen. The chemical shift of the hydroxyl species on magnetite(001) agrees with previously reported values for hydroxyl species on iron oxyhydroxides such as goethite (α-FeOOH). DFT calculations including an on-site Coulomb repulsion parameter (generalized gradient approximation (GGA) + U approach) predict O 1s surface core-level shifts (SCLS) at the clean (21/2×2 1/2)R45 reconstructed Fe3O4(001) surface of up to ∼-1 eV depending on the specific bonding configuration of the surface O atoms. Hydroxyl groups formed by the dissociation of isolated water molecules at O vacancies have an SCLS value of ∼1.2 eV. With increasing coverage there is a transition toward partial dissociation on the (001) surface. The calculated SCLS for hydroxyl and adsorbed water are 1.2-1.9 and 2.6-3.0 eV, respectively, and compare very well with our experimental results. Final-state effects obtained within the Slater-Janak approach thus have the dominant contribution. In addition, the modest reduction of the work function (∼0.5 eV) predicted by DFT calculations for the mixed adsorption of dissociated and intact water molecules agrees well with work function changes measured experimentally. Finally, the similarity between isotherm and isobar data and the DFT calculations for the C-free Fe3O4(001) surface indicate that surface hydroxylation is indeed substrate induced and not catalyzed by the presence of adventitious carbonaceous species. Both theory and experiment show the importance of cooperative effects between adjacent water molecules in the dissociation reaction. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations with an on-site Coulomb repulsion term, we study the composition, stability, and electronic properties of the most common FeOOH surfaces goethite(101), akaganeite(100), and lepidocrocite(010), and their interaction with water. Despite the differences in surface structure, the trends in surface stability of these FeOOH polymorphs exhibit remarkable similarities. We find that the reactivity and the binding configuration of adsorbates depend strongly on the coordination of surface iron: at the fourfold coordinated Fe2 site water is chemisorbed, whereas at the fivefold coordinated Fe1 water is only loosely bound with hydrogen pointing towards the surface. Our results show that the oxidation state of surface iron can be controlled by the surface termination where ferryl (Fe 4 +) species emerge for oxygen terminated surfaces and ferrous iron (Fe 2 +) at iron and water terminations leading to a reduced band gap. In contrast, the fully hydroxylated surfaces, identified as stable surface configurations at standard conditions from the surface phase diagram, show electronic properties and band gaps closest to bulk FeOOH with ferric surface iron (Fe 3 +). Only in the case of goethite(101), a termination with mixed surface hydroxyl and aquo groups is stabilized. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Density functional theory calculations including an on-site Hubbard term are used to explore hydrogen adsorption on the surface of Fe 3O 4(001). The adsorption energy exhibits a minimum for two hydrogen atoms per (√2 × √2)R45° surface unit cell and gets less favorable with increasing hydrogen coverage due to OH-OH repulsion. Terminations with two and four hydrogen atoms per surface unit cell are stable for moderate to high partial pressures of O and H. The strong tilt of the OH bond parallel to the surface facilitates hydrogen bonding to neighboring oxygen and hopping of the protons between surface oxygen sites. Furthermore, the formation of surface OH groups leads to a monotonic reduction of work function with increasing H coverage. The analysis of the electronic properties reveals selective switching of neighboring surface and subsurface Fe from Fe 3+ to Fe 2+ upon hydrogen adsorption. This provides a promising way to tune the catalytic activity of the Fe 3O 4(001) surface. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

A wealth of intriguing properties emerge in the seemingly simple system composed of the band insulators LaAlO 3 and SrTiO 3 such as a two-dimensional electron gas, superconductivity and magnetism. In this paper, we review the current insight obtained from first principles calculations on the mechanisms governing the behaviour of thin LaAlO 3 films on SrTiO 3(001). In particular, we explore the strong dependence of the electronic properties on the surface and interface termination, the finite film thickness, lattice polarization and defects. A further aspect that is addressed is how the electronic behaviour and functionality can be tuned by an SrTiO 3 capping layer, adsorbates and metallic contacts. Lastly, we discuss recent reports on the coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity in this system for what they might imply about the electronic structure of this system. © 2012 The Royal Society.

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that adding a metallic overlayer on LaAlO 3/SrTiO 3(001) alters significantly the electric field within the polar LaAlO 3 film. For Al or Ti metal contacts the electric field is eliminated, leading to a suppression of the thickness-dependent insulator-to-metal transition observed in uncovered films. Independent of the LaAlO 3 thickness, both the surface and the interface are metallic, with an enhanced carrier density at the interface relative to LaAlO 3/SrTiO 3(001) after the metallization transition. Monolayer thick contacts of Ti develop a finite magnetic moment and for a thin SrTiO 3 substrate induce a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas at the n-type interface, due to confinement effects in the SrTiO 3 slab. For transition (Fe, Co, Pt) and noble metal contacts (Cu, Ag, Au) a finite and even enhanced (Au) internal electric field develops within LaAlO 3. Results for a representative series of metallic overlayers on LaAlO 3/SrTiO 3(001) (Na, Al; Ti, Fe, Co, Pt; Cu, Ag, Au) reveal broad variation of band alignment, size of Schottky barrier, carrier concentration and lattice polarization at the LaAlO 3/ SrTiO 3(001) interface. The identified relationship to the size of work function of the metal on LaAlO 3 provides guidelines on how the carrier density at the LaAlO 3/SrTiO 3 interface can be controlled by the choice of the metal contact. © 2012 American Physical Society.

Using density functional theory calculations including a Hubbard U term we explore the effect of strain and confinement on the electronic ground state of superlattices containing the band insulator LaAlO3 and the correlated metal LaNiO3. Besides a suppression of holes at the apical oxygen, a central feature is the asymmetric response to strain in single unit cell superlattices: For tensile strain a band gap opens due to charge disproportionation at the Ni sites with two distinct magnetic moments of 1.45μB and 0.71μB. Under compressive stain, charge disproportionation is nearly quenched and the band gap collapses due to overlap of d3z2-r2 bands through a semimetallic state. This asymmetry in the electronic behavior is associated with the difference in octahedral distortions and rotations under tensile and compressive strain. The ligand hole density and the metallic state are quickly restored with increasing thickness of the (LaAlO3)n/(LaNiO3)n superlattice from n=1 to n=3. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations with a Hubbard U-term, we explore the possibility to design an artificial ferrimagnet FeCrO3 of ilmenite type out of the two antiferromagnets α-Fe2O3 and α-Cr2O3. By varying the concentration of Fe in α-Cr2O3, we provide a phase diagram of the relative stability of different chemical and magnetic arrangements with respect to the end members. At 50% Fe-doped α-Cr2O3, the ilmenite-like structure with alternating Fe and Cr layers and antiparallel magnetic moments competes energetically with a phase-separated structure containing a mixed Fe-Cr interface layer. The magnetic interaction parameters between Fe(3d5) and Cr(3d3) ions in the digital ferrimagnetic heterostructure, extracted by mapping the DFT total energies to a Heisenberg Hamiltonian, indicate a hematite-like magnetic order with parallel intralayer and antiparallel interlayer alignment. © 2011 American Physical Society.

In pursuit of rational control of orbital polarization, we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of single-unit-cell superlattices of the correlated metal LaNiO3 and the band insulator LaAlO 3. Polarized X-ray absorption spectra show a distinct asymmetry in the orbital response under strain. A splitting of orbital energies consistent with octahedral distortions is found for the case of compressive strain. In sharp contrast, for tensile strain, no splitting is found although a strong orbital polarization is present. Density functional theory calculations including a Hubbard U-term reveal that this asymmetry is a result of the interplay of strain and confinement that induces octahedral rotations and distortions and altered covalency in the bonding across the interfacial Ni-O-Al apical oxygen, leading to a charge disproportionation at the Ni sites for tensile strain. © Europhysics Letters Association.

Resistive memory switching was investigated in titanates and niobates of the type A nB nO 3n+2 and in the high-T c superconductor Bi 2Sr 2CaCu 2O 8+δ. We studied the switching by current injection perpendicular to the layers. Both dc and pulsed measurements were performed. Out-of-plane transport properties were investigated by measurements of the resistance and current-voltage characteristics (IVs) vs. temperature for different resistive states. The critical temperature of superconducting transition and the critical current of intrinsic Josephson junctions were also analyzed for different resistive states in Bi 2Sr 2CaCu 2O 8+δ. The resistive memory switching was explained in terms of doping of the conducting layers, which is induced by trapped charges in the insulating layers. The charged insulating layers act as a floating gate and reduce or increase the carrier concentration in the conducting layers, respectively. We found that all studied materials demonstrate a different type of non-persistent resistive switching at low temperatures. This type of switching shows up in a specific form of current-voltage characteristics with a pronounced back-bending often called s-shaped IV. Both types of resistive switching with and without memory effect were analyzed in terms of electron overheating. We examine the role of hot electrons and discuss additional factors, which might lead to persistent resistive states. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

First-principles calculations were performed for orthorhombic HgO, rhombohedral and cubic phases of HgTiO3 (HTO) and HgPbO3 (HPO). The calculations show that in the rhombohedral phase HTO is a direct gap insulator with a gap of similar to 1.6 eV. The rhombohedral phase of HPO, on the other hand, shows a weak metallic character. The results provide an explanation for the electrical properties of these compounds. The cubic phases of HTO and HPO are invariably metallic in nature, thereby suggesting that for HTO the rhombohedral-cubic transition must also be accompanied by a change in the electrical state. Examination of the electronic density of states of these systems revealed no significant on-site mixing of Hg 5d and Hg 6s states in any of these materials.

Using density functional theory calculations together with an on-site Coulomb repulsion term (GGA+U), we investigate the adsorption of water on Fe3O4(001). Starting from a single water molecule per (√2 × √2)R45° unit cell, we vary the concentration and configuration of water and hydroxyl groups. Isolated water molecules on the clean surface tend to dissociate heterolytically with an OH group adsorbed on top of an octahedral iron and a proton donated to a surface oxygen. Furthermore, oxygen defects are found to promote strongly water dissociation. The released protons bind to distant surface oxygen to minimize the repulsive interaction between the surface OH groups. At higher coverages, the interplay between adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions and the formation of hydrogen bonds between the surface species result in a crossover to a mixed adsorption mode where every second molecule is dissociated. The energetic trends are related to the underlying electronic mechanisms. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

Oxide interfaces have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to the emerging novel behavior which does not exist in the corresponding bulk parent compounds. This opens possibilities for future applications in oxide-based electronics and spintronics devices. Among the different materials combinations, heterostructures containing the two simple band insulators LaAlO(3) and SrTiO(3) have advanced to a model system exhibiting unanticipated properties ranging from conductivity, to magnetism, even to superconductivity. Electronic structure calculations have contributed significantly towards understanding these phenomena and we review here the progress achieved in the past few years, also showing some future directions and perspectives. A central issue in understanding the novel behavior in these oxide heterostructures is to discover the way (or ways) that these heterostructures deal with the polar discontinuity at the interface. Despite analogies to polar semiconductor interfaces, transition metal oxides offer much richer possibilities to compensate the valence mismatch, including, for example, an electronic reconstruction. Moreover, electronic correlations can lead to additional complex behavior like charge disproportionation and order, magnetism and orbital order. We discuss in some detail the role of finite size effects in ultrathin polar films on a nonpolar substrate leading to another intriguing feature-the thickness-dependent insulator-to-metal transition in thin LaAlO(3) films on a SrTiO(3)(001) substrate, driven by the impending polar catastrophe. The strong and uniform lattice polarization that emerges as a response to the potential build-up enables the system to remain insulating up to a few layers. However, beyond a critical thickness there is a crossover from an ionic relaxation to an electronic reconstruction. At this point two bands of electron and hole character, separated both in real and in reciprocal space, have been shifted sufficiently by the internal field in LaAlO3 to impose the closing of the bandgap. We discuss briefly further parameters that allow one to manipulate this behavior, e. g. via vacancies, adsorbates or an oxide capping layer.

Charge mismatch at the interface between canted antiferromagnetic hematite (α -Fe2O3) and antiferromagnetic ilmenite (FeTiO3) is accommodated by the formation of mixed Fe2+ and Fe3+ contact layers, leading to uncompensated magnetic moments in the system. To derive the magnetic exchange interaction parameters of the end members and interface, we map total-energy differences of collinear spin arrangements obtained from density-functional theory calculations to a Heisenberg Hamiltonian using the least-squares method. Parameters for the end members, hematite (Jm3+,3+) and ilmenite (Jm 2+,2+) are in good agreement with the values obtained from inelastic neutron-scattering data. The magnetic interaction parameters between Fe2+ and Fe3+ (Jm2+,3+) in the contact layer show a strong antiferromagnetic coupling to the adjacent hematite layers and thus explain the ferrimagnetism in the system. © 2010 The American Physical Society.

Nanoscale exsolutions of the canted antiferromagnet hematite (alpha-Fe(2)O(3)) and the room temperature paramagnet ilmenite (FeTiO(3)) show a surprisingly stable room temperature remanent magnetization, making the material interesting for spintronics applications. To understand the nature of this phenomenon at the atomic scale, density functional theory calculations with an on-site Coulomb repulsion parameter were performed on Fe(2-x)Ti(x)O(3), varying the concentration, distribution and charge state of cations. We find that the polar discontinuity at the interface is accommodated by the formation of a mixed Fe(2+)/Fe(3+) layer. The uncompensated interface moments give rise to ferrimagnetism in this system. We also explore the effect of strain, showing that it can be used to tune the electronic properties (e.g. band gap, position of impurity levels). Furthermore, we find that epitaxial growth on an Al(2)O(3)(0001) substrate is energetically unfavorable compared to substrates with a larger lateral lattice parameter, providing thereby a guideline for an optimal choice of the substrate in growth experiments.

The perovskite SrTiO3-LaAlO3 structure has advanced to a model system to investigate the rich electronic phenomena arising at polar oxide interfaces. Using first principles calculations and transport measurements we demonstrate that an additional SrTiO3 capping layer prevents atomic reconstruction at the LaAlO3 surface and triggers the electronic reconstruction at a significantly lower LaAlO3 film thickness than for the uncapped systems. Combined theoretical and experimental evidence (from magnetotransport and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy) suggests two spatially separated sheets with electron and hole carriers, that are as close as 1 nm. © 2010 The American Physical Society.

The adsorption of H on the magnetite (001) surface was studied with photoemission spectroscopies, scanning tunneling microscopy, and density-functional theory. At saturation coverage the insulating (√2×√2) R45° reconstruction is lifted and the surface undergoes a semiconductor-half metal transition. This transition involves subtle changes in the local geometric structure linked to an enrichment of Fe2 + cations at the surface. The ability to manipulate the electronic properties by surface engineering has important implications for magnetite-based spintronic devices. © 2010 The American Physical Society.