CeO2 facets control: from single (100) to multiple

Abstract

The synthesis of high energy facets and tunable low energy facets was achieved in CeO₂ films on a SrTiO₃ substrate by pulsed laser deposition. Three different facets of CeO₂ with distinctive morphologies appeared consecutively. Firstly, the (100) facet of CeO₂, which is the highest energy surface, was grown on the SrTiO₃ (STO) (100) substrate. The surface energy was decreased gradually with the increase of the laser pulse shots, and the (110) and (111) LEF appeared consecutively. The three different facets presented distinctive morphologies and the interface between each facet could be easily observed by the cross section of Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) imaging. The interface between the (100) and (110) facet may exhibit excellent oxygen storage capacity, even better than the (100) facet.