X-ray and Ion-Beam Reduction Kinetics of Mixed Metal Oxides as an Informative Tool.

Ion beams have long served as indispensable tools in surface science for layer removal and depth profiling, yet their aggressive nature often limits use to inorganic systems due to radiation-induced chemical damage. Here, we revisit this "limitation" as an opportunity to explore whether ion beams can purposefully induce redox transformations that reveal chemical and structural information inaccessible by conventional means. Using a suite of mixed metal oxides (Ce-Mo, Ni/Co-Mo, and Ce-Ti), we demonstrate that ion beam exposure can drive controlled reduction processes that sensitively report on intrinsic redox stability and metal-oxygen bonding and provide an alternative route by which to assess relative chemical and electronic changes, to otherwise costly and time-consuming synchrotron studies.