2023/10/05 by Michael Oberaigner, Manuel Ederer, Oberaigner, Michael +13 · 1 citation
Chemical Engineering · Materials Science · #Catalysis and Oxidation Reactions #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #FOS: Physical sciences #Machine Learning in Materials Science #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.03863
openalex publication_date 2023/10/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Knowledge of atomic-level details of structure, chemistry, and electronic states is paramount for a comprehensive understanding of emergent properties at oxide interfaces. We utilise a novel methodology based on atomic-scale electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) to spatially map the electronic states tied to the formation of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the prototypical non-polar/polar TiO2/LaAlO3 interface. Combined with differential phase contrast analysis we directly visualise the microscopic locations of ions and charge and find that 2DEG states and Ti3+ defect states exhibit different spatial distributions. Supported by density functional theory (DFT) and inelastic scattering simulations we examine the role of oxygen vacancies in 2DEG formation. Our work presents a general pathway to directly image emergent phenomena at interfaces using this unique combination of arising microscopy techniques with machine learning assisted data analysis procedures.