Determination of Crystallographic Orientation and Exposed Facets of Titanium Oxide Nanocrystals

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocrystals have attracted great attention in heterogeneous photocatalysis and photoelectricity fields for decades. However, contradicting conclusions on the crystallographic orientation and exposed facets of TiO2 nanocrystals frequently appear in the literature. Herein, using anatase TiO2 nanocrystals with highly exposed {001} facets as a model, the misleading conclusions that exist on anatase nanocrystals are clarified. Although TiO2-001 nanocrystals are recognized to be dominated by {001} facets, in fact, anatase nanocrystals with both dominant {001} and {111} facets always co-exist due to the similarities in the lattice fringes and intersection angles between the two types of facets (0.38 nm and 90 degrees in the [001] direction, 0.35 nm and 82 degrees in the [111] direction). A paradigm for determining the crystallographic orientation and exposed facets based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis, which provides a universal methodology to nanomaterials for determining the orientation and exposed facets, is also given.