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Starting from the theoretical prediction of the ␥-Al2O3 structure using density-functional theory in the
generalized gradient approximation, we have studied the (1 1 1), (0 0 1), (1 1 0), and (1 5 0) surfaces. The
surface energies and their corresponding structures are computed and compared with predictions for (0 0 0 1)
␣-Al2O3 and available experimental results for ␥-alumina surfaces. (1 1 1) and (0 0 1) surfaces are predicted
to be equally stable, but to show quite different structure and reactivity. Whereas a low coverage of highly
reactive trigonal Al occurs on (1 1 1), (0 0 1) exhibits a more dense plane of both five-coordinate and
tetrahedral Al. Microfaceting of a (1 1 0) surface into (1 1 1)-like planes is also observed. The implications for
the structure of ultrathin dielectric films and for the surfaces of disordered transition aluminas are discussed.
should be occupied by Al cations and this can be achieved in converge the total energy to less than 0.02 eV/ Al2O3. The
about 1010 distinct ways.12 Most authors agree that VOh are ionic relaxation is performed until the root-mean-square
favored,11,19,20 but that there is a statistical distribution of up forces are less than 0.03 eV/ Å. It is important to stress the
to 30% VTd in a room-temperature sample of ␥-Al2O3.21,22 fact that we use GGA-generated USPP within VASP compu-
Much of the catalytic activity of alumina surfaces can be tations while in CASTEP we use local-density approximation
traced to the electronic structure. Coordinatively unsaturated (LDA)-generated USPP. It is worthwhile mentioning that al-
Al ions at the surface show empty surface states, typically though LDA and GGA yield similar results, GGA is better in
within the bulk band gap and localized primarily on Al. The describing the structure and energetics of alumina
closer these states lie to the Fermi level, the more reactive polymorphs.11
these sites are towards electron-rich adsorbates, i.e., the In order to get a more fundamental understanding about
higher their Lewis acidity. Beyond this, however, consensus the bonding in both bulk and surfaces of ␥-Al2O3, Mulliken
is lacking. A Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) study of par- population analysis38 has been performed. It is well known
tially dehydroxylated ␥-Al2O3 with adsorbed pyridine shows that the PW basis set is deficient in quantifying local atomic
three types of Lewis acid site on the surface, assigned to properties. We have therefore used the technique suggested
three-, four-, and five-coordinate Al.23 On the other hand, by Sánchez-Portal et al.39,40 for projecting the PW onto a
solid-state NMR indicates a variety of surface Al, none of basis that is a linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO).
which can be assigned as three coordinate (trigonal).24 The quality of this technique is measured by the so-called
Considering theoretical approaches to modeling alumina, spilling parameter that in our case is less than 0.008.
rigid pair potentials are found to be inadequate for the bulk, Finally, in order to check the robustness of selected sur-
requiring charge transfer12 or quadrupolar corrections.25 faces, we performed microcanonical molecular dynamics
Studies using the more reliable but computationally demand- (MD) using VASP. The total free energy is conserved and the
ing density-functional theory (DFT) have concentrated on velocity-Verlet algorithm for integrating the Newton’s equa-
the (0 0 1) and (1 1 0) surfaces of ␥-Al2O3, in implementa- tions is used. Throughout these simulations, we allow elec-
tions that model the surface as a periodic slab26–28 or as a tronic relaxation in order to keep the electrons near the Born-
cluster.29 However, some of these suffer from deficiencies in Oppenheimer surface. The ionic time step was 2 fs and the
modeling ␥-Al2O3 (nonstoichiometry, absence of vacancies whole simulations lasted 0.3 ps at an approximated tempera-
or high H concentration) or in adequately representing a sur- ture of 700 K, appropriate for the conversion of hydroxides
face (insufficient slab area or thickness, frozen atoms). More to ␥- or -Al2O3 共500– 800 K兲 and much lower than that
relevant for the current work on close-packed O surfaces is a required to form - or ␣-Al2O3 共1100 K , 1300 K兲.13 The su-
periodic DFT study of the hcp-based -Al2O3 and its close- percell is held fixed throughout the MD run, which also pre-
packed (0 0 1)-like surfaces:30 significant relaxation of sur- vents any unwanted decomposition of bulk ␥-Al2O3 within
face Al is discussed in terms of subsurface tetrahedral Al and the slab. We note that the computed mean square displace-
vacancies. ments (MSD) values are only a coarse approximation, due to
the short MD time carried out.
II. COMPUTATIONAL METHOD
First-principles calculations give a reliable description of III. STRUCTURAL AND ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF
materials and their surfaces at the atomic scale and we apply BULK ␥-Al2O3
this method to alumina using the VASP code.31,32 In order to
compute the ground-state electronic wave function within To validate our method and serve as a reference, we com-
periodic boundary conditions, a plane-wave (PW) basis set puted bulk corundum, ␣-Al2O3. The hexagonal unit cell con-
and Vanderbilt ultrasoft pseudopotentials (USPP)33,34 are tains 30 ions, arranged in six (0 0 0 1) Al2O3 layers. Al
used. Electron correlation is accounted for in an approximate cations in local D3d symmetry occupy two-thirds of the oc-
way by use of DFT in the generalized gradient approxima- tahedral sites between alternating layers of hcp O anions.
tion (GGA) as parametrized by Perdew and Wang (GGA-II The geometry of both cell and ions was optimized as detailed
or PW91).35 above to yield a = 4.751 Å, c / a = 2.757, which agrees with
In order to obtain self-consistent valence-electron wave experiment (a = 4.751 Å, c / a = 2.730)1 within the accuracy
functions by minimizing the Kohn-Sham total energy func- expected for GGA. This corresponds to a [0 0 0 1] spacing of
tional, we use the residual minimization scheme 2.18 Å between O layers.
(RMM-DIIS).34 Convergence with respect to k points of less As mentioned in the introduction, ␥-Al2O3 has a defective
than 0.02 eV/ Al2O3 is achieved with a suitable Monkhorst- spinel structure and the smallest stoichiometric cell is built
Pack mesh36 and a PW kinetic energy cutoff of 396 eV. A up by stacking three MgAl2O4 primitive cells (space group
Fermi-level smearing of 0.1 eV is used for improving the Fd3̄m), replacing all the Mg with Al and finally extracting
total-energy convergence. Finally, the ions are allowed to two Al atoms to give vacancies. Since this aluminium sub-
relax until the forces are less than 0.03 eV/ Å. In order to lattice possesses 6 Td and 12 Oh sites per cell, there are then
compare our results we perform several computations using 17 possible nonequivalent configurations for locating 16 at-
the CASTEP code37 within the GGA-II approach and Vander- oms on these sites. Of these, four have two Al vacancies on
bilt USPP with a 共4 ⫻ 4 ⫻ 1兲 Monkhorst-Pack mesh and a Td sites 共TdTd兲, five show both vacancies on Oh sites 共OhOh兲,
kinetic cutoff energy of 390 eV; within these parameters we and eight are mixed 共OhTd兲.
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AB INITIO STUDY OF ␥-Al2O3 SURFACES PHYSICAL REVIEW B 70, 125402 (2004)
Space group C2 / m
a = b共Å兲 5.663
c/a 2.421
FIG. 1. Calculated relative energies per unit formula after full ␣ = 共°兲 90.6
relaxation for the 17 nonequivalent structures for bulk ␥-Al2O3 with ␥共°兲 60.401
respect to the ␣-Al2O3. The horizontal dashed lines labeled as Volume 共Å3兲 382.326
⌬H共␥-␣兲 and ⌬H共␦-␣兲 represent the experimental transformation Bo共GPa兲 209
enthalpies of gamma and delta aluminas with respect to alpha
Sites u v w
alumina,41 respectively.
Al共1兲Td 0.0039 0.0039 0.1225
Al共2兲Td 0.3247 0.3247 0.2070
Having recognized those structures, a full relaxation of
cell shape, volume, and atoms was carried out on each of the Al共3兲Td 0.6658 0.6658 0.5482
17 structures using a 共2 ⫻ 2 ⫻ 2兲 k-point mesh (including the Al共4兲Oh 0 0.5 0
⌫ point. The outcome of these relaxations is pictured in Fig. Al共5兲Oh 0.6511 0.6511 0.1603
1; as expected for a nonisotropic distribution of vacancies, Al共6兲Oh 0.1650 0.1650 0.6603
the optimized primitive cells do not correspond to cubic Al共7兲Oh 0.6756 0.1639 0.6593
cells, and so reflect the local asymmetry of the various va- O共1兲 0.8452 0.3456 0.0866
cancy distributions. From the results, the lowest energy O共2兲 0.8346 0.3320 0.5935
structure is the OhOh共3兲 system with the maximum spacing
O共3兲 0.4887 0.0308 0.7452
between Oh vacancies (⬃7.45 Å within the cell) in agree-
ment with other DFT studies.11,14 This is the model which we O共4兲 0.8240 0.8240 0.0834
use for ␥-Al2O3. As shown in Fig. 1, the bulk energy is O共5兲 0.6791 0.6791 0.9202
0.18 eV/ Al2O3 higher than that computed for ␣-Al2O3. Less O共6兲 0.8344 0.8344 0.5934
stable by 0.14 eV/ Al2O3 are three structures with mixed va- O共7兲 0.4943 0.4943 0.7476
cancy sites OhTd, isoenergetic at this level of computational O共8兲 0.0026 0.0026 0.7416
precision 共0.02 eV/ Al2O3兲. A full relaxation of the OhOh共3兲 O共9兲 0.3351 0.3351 0.5865
and OhTd共2兲 systems using the CASTEP code yields the same V1Oh 0 0 0.5
difference in energies 共0.143 eV/ Al2O3兲. It is interesting to
V2Oh 0.5 0.5 0
compare our results with a previous work using LDA14
within a cubic cell: the same structures are found to be low-
est in energy but with an energy difference of lated bulk modulus for ␥-Al2O3 is 209 GPa, in good agree-
0.16 eV/ Al2O3. ment with the LDA value of 219 GPa obtained in a previous
In Table I and Fig. 2 we present the structure of the pro- work.14 For comparison, the lattice parameter predicted us-
posed bulk ␥-Al2O3. The C2 / m space group of this structure ing CASTEP is 7.797 Å. This last result reflects the impor-
points out its deviation from cubic spinel when ␥-alumina is tance of internally consistent calculations using GGA-
viewed locally. Reoccupying the vacancies allowed us to fit generated USPP (see Sec. II). Finally it is useful to point out
the structure to cubic symmetry (0.35 Å tolerance), yielding that the two Al vacancies are nonequivalent and their frac-
a cell parameter a = 7.99 Å. The average spacing between O tional coordinates are 共1 / 2 , 1 / 2 , 0兲 and 共0 , 0 , 1 / 2兲 in the
layers is 2.29 Å (along [1 1 1] in the cubic spinel). In the primitive cell with C2 / m symmetry as shown in Fig. 2.
literature one can find a scatter with respect to the experi- In addition, we have calculated the partial density of
mental value of a (in cubic symmetry) from states (PDOS) for the proposed bulk structure 关OhOh共3兲兴 as
7.911 – 7.943 Å.13,21 Thus, our result is ⬃1% greater than the well as its total DOS and the band structure (Fig. 3 and Fig.
experimental values and in close agreement with other GGA 4). The first clear feature from Fig. 3 is that almost all the
results.27 It is well known that, in general, GGA overesti- valence charge is associated with oxygen atoms, suggesting a
mates lattice parameters. The deviation from cubic symmetry highly polar character of the Al-O bonding, consistent with
reflects the noncubic ordering of gamma alumina in agree- previous works on -Al2O3 and ␣-Al2O3.42,43 In fact, the
ment with the measured x-ray diffraction (XRD) powder pat- lower and upper valence bands are dominated by O-s and
terns in this compound.13 We suggest that our locally noncu- O-p, respectively, with a small contribution from Al-s , -p,
bic model should give good predictions for real gamma and -d in each.
alumina since the properties of materials with a certain de- In Fig. 4 the electronic band structure of OhOh共3兲 shows a
gree of disorder are governed by local structure. The calcu- direct band gap of 3.97 eV at the ⌫ point in contrast to the
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PINTO, NIEMINEN, AND ELLIOTT PHYSICAL REVIEW B 70, 125402 (2004)
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AB INITIO STUDY OF ␥-Al2O3 SURFACES PHYSICAL REVIEW B 70, 125402 (2004)
TABLE II. Mulliken population analysis for ␣-Al2O3 and ␥ TABLE III. Calculated ␣-Al2O3 (0001) and ␥-Al2O3 surface
-Al2O3. The averaged effective ionic charge 共q̄eff兲 and overlap energies for relaxed 共R兲 and static 共S兲 slabs.
population 共n̄m兲 are in e units while the averaged bonding distances
共d̄兲 are in Å. Surface Slab size (atoms) R共J / m2兲 S共J / m2兲
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PINTO, NIEMINEN, AND ELLIOTT PHYSICAL REVIEW B 70, 125402 (2004)
tions indicate that alumina of slightly higher porosity, with Al and O layers are arranged. On the other hand, the x axis
an internal surface area ⬎300 m2 / g, would be thermody- represents the ionic displacements normal 共␦z兲 and parallel
namically stable as the ␥ polymorph. 共兩␦x,y兩兲 to the surface of the oxygen and aluminium atomic
With growing interest in ultrathin films of alumina for layers with respect to their perfect sites in the bulk.
electronics applications, we note that films ⬍9 Å thick also In order to have a reference point, consolidate our
show surface areas of ⬎300 m2 / g. This estimate assumes an method, and understand properly the ionic relaxations, we
averaged density of 3.8 g / cm3 and neglects interfacial inter- are going to analyze thoroughly the (0 0 0 1) ␣-alumina as
actions, which may in fact dominate in such a thin film. presented in Fig. 6. Al and O layers are quite clear:
Transition phases, such as ␥-Al2O3, will therefore be thermo- MO3 / M / M / O3 / M / M / O3. Trigonal symmetry constrains
dynamically favored during the early stages of film deposi- the surface O in [0 0 0 1] (␦z displacements for O are negli-
tion (9 Å represents about four alumina layers). Thicker ␥ gible as shown in Fig. 6 left panel), so that the relaxation of
-Al2O3 films will be metastable, producing ␣-Al2O3 when the topmost Al into a near-trigonal site can only be accom-
annealed. modated by twisting within (0 0 0 1) 共兩␦x,y兩 = 0.07– 0.08 Å兲,
as described in Ref. 8. The coverage of trigonal Al atop the
close-packed O layer is 8.4 mol/ m2.
B. Surface structure
From the left panel of Fig. 6 one can deduce the interlayer
Starting from the bulk perfect sites we carried out a full relaxations with respect to the corresponding bulk spacings.
ionic relaxation of the atoms in the slab until the forces were For instance, the topmost Al (depth= 0 by definition) has an
less than 0.03 eV/ Å. Figures 6–8, 10, and 11 show the out- relaxation ␦z = −0.69 Å, where the minus sign means that the
come of such relaxations plotted as a function of depth movement was towards the bulk. Therefore, the original po-
within the slab. In these figures, the projection of the marks sition of this Al was 0.69 Å above the surface. The first O
onto the depth axis represents the final position of the oxy- layer at 0.12 Å deep, had an outward relaxation ␦z = 0.03 Å
gen and aluminium sublattice planes normal to the surface (i.e., the initial depth was 0.15 Å below the surface). From
with respect to the most superficial atom, revealing how the these data one can derive M-O3 distances; the initial was
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AB INITIO STUDY OF ␥-Al2O3 SURFACES PHYSICAL REVIEW B 70, 125402 (2004)
0.84 Å and the final is 0.12 Å, giving an M-O3 change of At first glance, the 共1 1 1兲b surface appears similar to
−0.72 Å or −86%. If we apply the same analysis to all the 共1 1 1兲a: it has a M OhO3 termination with a layer ordering of
layers in the slab, we finally find: −86, +4, −42, +21, and M OhO3 / OM Td / M Oh / M TdO4 / M O Td
3 / O4 / M , as shown in Fig.
h
+6% for the first five layers M-O3, O3-M, M-M, M-O3, and 8. The topmost Al has relaxed ␦z = −0.9 Å from its octahedral
O3-M, respectively. This result is in good agreement with position into an almost trigonal site, flush with surface O,
previous theoretical and experimental results.7,9 We note that with relatively little sideways deformation 共兩␦x,y兩 = 0.3 Å兲.
shifting the topmost Al to other, less symmetrical surface However, the distortion in the subsurface layers is an order
sites results in reconstruction and a ⬎2 J / m2 increase in . of magnitude larger in 共1 1 1兲b than in 共1 1 1兲a. The O’s at
0.0 and 0.5 Å deep are twofold coordinated 共兩␦x,y兩 = 0.2
C. Structure of the (1 1 1) surface
− 0.4 Å兲; the Al at 1 Å deep is five coordinate 共␦z
= +0.3, 兩␦x,y兩 = 0.4 Å兲, and only 2.6 Å from the topmost Al.
The 共1 1 1兲a surface (Fig. 7) has a M TdO4 termination The interlayer M Oh-O3, O-M Td, M Td-M Oh, M Oh-M Td,
where the surface metal atoms are threefold coordinated M Td-O4, and distances undergo variations of −86, −62, −41,
[see Fig. 7(b)], with a layer ordering of +87, −41, and −1 % , respectively. Consistent with these se-
M TdO 4 / M O
3
h / O / M Td / M Oh / M Td / O / M Oh. The outermost Al
4 4 2
vere distortions, we note that the topmost Al in 共1 1 1兲b does
atoms present a normal inward relaxation 共␦z兲 with respect to not lie on an axis of symmetry with respect to subsurface Al.
their perfect sites of −0.3 Å with a small planar deformation The outcome of the MD simulation for the 共1 1 1兲a sur-
共兩␦x,y兩兲 of 0.03 Å [Fig. 7(a)]. The four O atoms of the outer- face shows no important structural changes. Analysis reveals
most close-packed layer (at ⬃0.05 Å deep) relax normal to MSD in the 共1 1 1兲a slab of 0.025 and 0.023 Å2 for the
the surface, rumpling by ⬃0.2 Å, so that there is little in- superficial Al and O layers, respectively, while for the bulk-
plane distortion 共兩␦x,y兩 ⬍ 0.05 Å兲. The relaxed surface Al is like Al and O layers at more than 3.5 Å depth [Fig. 7(a)] the
near trigonal and shows a coverage of 5.95 mol/ m2. In MSD are 0.012 and 0.016 Å2, respectively.
general, in the 共1 1 1兲a slab, the ␦z and 兩␦x,y兩 relaxations of
1. Electronic structure of the (1 1 1) surface
both Al and O atoms decrease to less than 0.07 Å when the
atoms are more than 4 Å deep within the slab. From the Mulliken analysis was carried out for the most stable
left-hand panel of Fig. 7(a) the interlayer relaxation with ␥-Al2O3 surface, 共1 1 1兲a. The effective charge and overlap
respect to the bulk spacings were: −58, +4, +0.9, −74, and population values exhibit only minor changes compared with
−5% for the MTd-O4, O4-M O Oh Td
3 , M 3 -O4, O4-M , M -M ,
h Td Oh the bulk. A direct comparison of the effective charges of the
Oh Td atoms in the first layer with the corresponding atoms in the
and M -M , respectively. It is important to mention that
within the O4 layer at 2.25 Å deep, the O atoms are threefold bulk (Table II) show no significant changes, except for the
coordinated and show small deformations 兩␦x,y 兩 ⬍ 0.07 Å. As most superficial Al and the four O belonging to the first layer
Fig. 7(a) shows, the topmost Al is on an axis of threefold with qeff共surf兲 − qeff共bulk兲 = −0.14 e and 0.04 e, respectively,
rotational symmetry with respect to the O and M Oh sublayers i.e., there is a slight electron transfer from the three-
down to ⬃3.5 Å deep. coordinated Al to the first layer of O. We find no appreciable
125402-7
PINTO, NIEMINEN, AND ELLIOTT PHYSICAL REVIEW B 70, 125402 (2004)
lower VBs of slab and bulk. A detailed comparison of the through the vacancies of the latter yields a 100-atom bulk-
upper VBs showed that no surface states intrude into the bulk terminated slab, which is our starting structure. A feature of
band gap (Fig. 4). For this reason, the surface projection of this termination is highly undersaturated surface Al [two-
the bulk upper VB is omitted from Fig. 9. For the slab, the coordinate, formerly Td; Al(1) and Al(2) in Fig. 10(a)]. These
FIG. 10. (a) Outcome of ionic relaxations for the (0 0 1) surface as a function of depth within the slab and a view of its structure. Notice
the arrows that show the ionic relaxations and stress the site exchange: Al(4), Al(5) and Al(3), Al(6). (b) Top view of this surface. The
numbers in (a) and (b) are in correspondence.
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AB INITIO STUDY OF ␥-Al2O3 SURFACES PHYSICAL REVIEW B 70, 125402 (2004)
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PINTO, NIEMINEN, AND ELLIOTT PHYSICAL REVIEW B 70, 125402 (2004)
they will show an even lower density of surface Al above 共0 0 1兲 ⬍ 共1 1 1兲 ⬍ 共1 1 0兲 in ␥-Al2O350 and
close-packed O, and a correspondingly lower surface energy. 共0 0 1兲 ⬍ 共1 1 0兲 ⬇ 共1 1 1兲 for MgAl2O4 spinel.53 It is en-
However, this must be offset by the energetic penalty of couraging therefore that support for the (0 0 1) surface comes
deformations in subsurface Al and O, which we predict from a wide variety of methods; on the other hand, further
should accompany a disordered Al sublattice [as calculated work will be necessary to resolve whether (1 1 0) or (1 1 1)
for ␥-共1 1 1兲b]. A low density of trigonal Al within (1 1 1) also occurs.
surfaces may explain the lack of three-coordinate Al mea- Differences are reported in the surface reactivity of and
sured by NMR.24 ␥ transition aluminas.28 To a first approximation, we expect
The (0 0 1) surface is computed to behave differently to the surface chemical reactivity to be governed by its elec-
(1 1 1). The loose, square arrangement of O anions permits
tronic structure (incorporating surface connectivity and cov-
considerable flexibility in the surface Al, most of which relax
erage). Based on their surface band gaps, we thus predict a
into neighboring nonspinel sites (Sec. IV D) and octahedral
vacancies are repelled from the (0 0 1) surface into the slab higher chemical reactivity of the ␥-共1 1 1兲a and (0 0 1) sur-
interior, as in Ref. 27. However, by calculating a larger slab faces relative to ␣-Al2O3 (0 0 0 1). However the Lewis acid-
than Ref. 27 (in x as well as z), we find that surface recon- ity is a macroscopic quantity which depends on both the
struction can occur without destruction of the slab, and we electron structure and the coverage of active sites. Therefore,
are able to identify the barrierless three-atom-linked ex- it is important to note that ␥ - 共0 0 1兲 shows a much higher
change mechanism that displaces VOh towards the bulk. This concentration of less acidic five-coordinate Al
facile motion and undercoordination means that both five- 共10.44 mol/ m2兲 than is the case for the more reactive
coordinated and tetrahedral Al are moderate Lewis acids. three-coordinate Al of ␥-共1 1 1兲a 共5.95 mol/ m2兲. Obvi-
However, we are aware that the pattern of AlOh, AlTd, and ously, in real surfaces, the temperature, together with surface
VTd which we obtain is not correlated with the subsurface defects, will change our predictions to some degree.
Finally, except for 共1 1 1兲a ␥-Al2O3, all the ␥-alumina
structure, and is probably an arbitrary product of our choice
surfaces studied here present considerable instability (large
of cell. Other arrangements atop the cubic substrate would
兩␦x,y兩), behavior already seen in other alumina surface
probably be isoenergetic, as long as the 6:2 ratio of five-
studies.30 Certainly, the presence of both AlTd and vacancies
coordinate Al to AlTd is preserved. Our finding of AlTd close
on the surface are responsible for such instability and the
to the surface is supported by solid-state NMR of ␥-Al2O3
resulting surface structures.
(Ref. 24) and by FT-IR,23 although NMR indicates a slightly
higher proportion of 共⬃6 : 3兲.
From the MSD values for MD simulations of 共1 1 1兲a VI. CONCLUSION
and (0 0 1) surfaces, one can estimate the root-mean-square
displacements (RMSD) that, for a simple harmonic oscilla- Density-functional theory has been applied to the quanti-
tor, are related to its vibrational amplitude. We thus obtain tative elucidation of structure and energetics of low index
amplitudes for the atoms at the surface in the 共1 1 1兲a and surfaces of transition aluminas. Surface energies of
(0 0 1) slabs of 1.3 and 1.05 times larger than those in the 1.00± 0.05 J / m2 were computed for both (1 1 1) and (0 0 1)
bulk, respectively. Considering the close similarity in struc- surfaces of the ␥-Al2O3 crystal, and so we conclude that
ture of 共1 1 1兲a ␥-alumina and 共0 0 0 1兲 ␣-alumina, our ap- either surface could occur. It follows that ␥-Al2O3 films are
proximate value of 1.3 is in accordance with the value of 1.5 thermodynamically stable with respect to ␣-Al2O3 up to a
founded previously for 共0 0 0 1兲 ␣-alumina.51 thickness of about 9 Å. Some less stable surfaces reconstruct
We find that the (1 1 0) and (1 5 0) polar terminations are so as to produce (1 1 1) microfacets. (1 1 1) surfaces are
unstable. The relaxed (1 1 0) surface is rough, with Oh va- computed to be mostly O terminated, with a low coverage of
cancy sites remaining at the surface, and when there are no trigonal Al behaving as a strong Lewis acid. The (0 0 1)
AlOh atoms on the unrelaxed slab, the surface reconstructs by surface is highly reconstructed to give Al in nonspinel sites;
it is dominated by five-coordinate Al, with some tetrahedral
microfaceting into (1 1 1)-related segments. This is at odds
Al, both of which are expected to be weaker Lewis acids.
with the results of Ref. 28, which are based on a hydrogen
Given the high-level theoretical treatment and good agree-
spinel in a thinner slab with frozen atoms. Our study is far
ment with experiment, these models may reliably represent a
from exhaustive however, and we recognize that other more
range of transition alumina surfaces.
stable (1 1 0) surfaces may exist.
The (0 0 1) and 共1 1 1兲a surfaces are found to be equally
stable, with surface energies that differ by just 0.1 J / m2, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
which is close to the limit of computational accuracy. These
are purely thermodynamic considerations: the kinetics of This research was supported by the European Community
various methods of alumina preparation (e.g., dehydration of under the “Information Society Technologies” program
boehmite, oxidation of metal) may favor other surfaces. Be- through the HIKE project (http://www.nmrc.ie/hike) and by
cause of their metastability and microporosity, it is hard to the Academy of Finland through its Centers of Excellence
prepare well-defined ␥-Al2O3 surfaces under controlled con- Program (2000–2005). We acknowledge generous grants of
ditions. A few such measurements are reported and indicate computing time from the NMRC Photonics Theory Group
that (0 0 1) and (1 1 0) occur on ␥-Al2O3.1,52 Atomistic and from the Center for the Scientific Computing (CSC), in
simulation predicts the energetic ordering Espoo, Finland.
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