LAUSR

Oxygen vacancies (VOs) and their distribution can affect oxides' properties from various aspects. In this work, we present a dislocation-related surface-layer effect in single crystal SrTiO3 (STO). Our results from the first principles calculations based on density functional theory along with our experimental research based on angle-resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicate that, in contrast with bulk STO where VOs tend to cluster in a line, as depth increases from surface region, the concentration of VOs increases first, reaches a maximum value, and then decreases to a saturation value. This effect was argued to be the combinative result of the oxygen-vacancy diffusion along the dislocation lines and the ambient oxygen-atom incorporation into the crystal.