Oxygen vacancy origin of the surface band-gap state of TiO2(110).

Scanning tunneling microscopy and photoemission spectroscopy have been used to determine the origin of the band-gap state in rutile TiO2(110). This state has long been attributed to oxygen vacancies (O{b} vac). However, recently an alternative origin has been suggested, namely, subsurface interstitial Ti species. Here, we use electron bombardment to vary the O{b} vac density while monitoring the band-gap state with photoemission spectroscopy. Our results show that O{b} vac make the dominant contribution to the photoemission peak and that its magnitude is directly proportional to the O{b} vac density.