Giant Enhancement of Hydrogen Transport in Rutile TiO2 at Low Temperatures ...

Measurements of the O-H and O-D vibrational lifetimes show that the
room-temperature hydrogen diffusion rate in rutile TiO2 can be enhanced by
nine orders of magnitude when stimulated by resonant infrared light. We find
that the local oscillatory motion of the proton quickly couples to a
wag-mode-assisted classical transfer process along the c-channel with a jump
rate of greater than 1 THz and a barrier height of 0.2 eV. Such an increase in
proton transport rate at moderate temperatures is significant for renewable
energy applications ranging from hydrogen fuel cells to water splitting by
photo-catalysis.