Interface-driven bulk oxygen spillover observed in Ru/TiO2 catalysts
Using in situ environmental TEM, researchers tracked oxygen moving from the TiO2 lattice into supported Ru particles at the Ru/TiO2 interface, revealing bulk, not just surface, oxygen spillover. The TiO2 lattice becomes reversibly strained to enable oxygen transport; this spillover is active for Ru on rutile-TiO2 but not on Ru on anatase-TiO2, highlighting the critical role of interfacial epitaxy and engineered metal–support interfaces in activating oxygen within the bulk catalyst and potentially affecting reactions.