Optimisation of Adhesion at Transition Metal-Oxide Interfaces by Processing at Well-Chosen Oxygen Activity

ABSTRACTTransition metal-oxide interfaces suffer within their thermodynamic stability range Gibbs' adsorption and show important changes in chemical composition with oxygen activity. As a consequence, specific free interfacial energy and adhesion energy also vary with oxygen activity. Adhesion at a given non-reactive transition metal-oxide interface can then be optimised by establishing the proper oxygen activity during processing or by a post-treatment at the interface.In the present work, the approach of Gibbs' adsorption is extended to crystalline, anisotropic (special) transition metal-oxide interfaces. It is demonstrated that interfacial energy varies with oxygen activity. The variation in energy is studied for different adsorption energies, temperatures and interfacial planes.