How reactive are perovskite ruthenate oxide surfaces?

Abstract> Perovskite oxides are promising materials in applications ranging from solid oxide fuel cells to catalysts, yet their surface chemistry is surprisingly poorly understood at the atomic level. The present talk will discuss recent results of combined theoretical - density functional theory (DFT) - and experimental - mostly low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) – studies on ruthenate surfaces and focus on:
• High chemical activity: CO on Sr₃Ru₂O₇(001) (SRO)
• Dissociated but not separated: H₂O on SRO
• Break the surface symmetry: Ordered hydroxyls on Ca₃Ru₂O₇(001) (CRO)
• Activate O₂ molecules: Charged superoxide O₂^- on CRO