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The effect of the substrate on thermal stability of CeOx and Rh-Ce-O thin films

Publication at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
2014

Abstract

Cerium oxide doped by a noble metal has been researched intensively for its high catalytic activity. In the presented study, Rh-Ce-O and CeOx thin films were deposited onto SiO2 and Cu substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering.

Thermal stability of the films was investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. Our results show that the substrate has a great influence on the stability of the overlayers.

Rh-Ce-O deposited on Cu decomposes into rhodium and cerium oxide separate phases above 600 K. In contrary, the Rh-Ce-O film on SiO2 remains stable up to 800 K, but silicon migrates from the substrate into the film, forming cerium silicate.

We suggest that a strong interaction between SiO2 substrate and Rh-Ce-O, or CeOx films, could be responsible for higher thermal stability compared to films deposited onto Cu.