Titania single crystals with a curved surface

Shuang Yang, Bing Xing Yang, Long Wu, Yu Hang Li, Porun Liu, Huijun Zhao, Yan Yan Yu, Xue Qing Gong () and Hua Gui Yang ()
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Shuang Yang: Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology
Bing Xing Yang: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Centre for Computational Chemistry and Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology
Long Wu: Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology
Yu Hang Li: Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology
Porun Liu: Centre for Clean Environment and Energy, Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University
Huijun Zhao: Centre for Clean Environment and Energy, Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University
Yan Yan Yu: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Centre for Computational Chemistry and Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology
Xue Qing Gong: Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Centre for Computational Chemistry and Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology
Hua Gui Yang: Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Owing to its scientific and technological importance, crystallization as a ubiquitous phenomenon has been widely studied over centuries. Well-developed single crystals are generally enclosed by regular flat facets spontaneously to form polyhedral morphologies because of the well-known self-confinement principle for crystal growth. However, in nature, complex single crystalline calcitic skeleton of biological organisms generally has a curved external surface formed by specific interactions between organic moieties and biocompatible minerals. Here we show a new class of crystal surface of TiO2, which is enclosed by quasi continuous high-index microfacets and thus has a unique truncated biconic morphology. Such single crystals may open a new direction for crystal growth study since, in principle, crystal growth rates of all facets between two normal {101} and {011} crystal surfaces are almost identical. In other words, the facet with continuous Miller index can exist because of the continuous curvature on the crystal surface.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6355

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