Observation of TiO2 microcrystallite powder by scanning tunneling microscope

The surface structure of microcrystallites of practical photocatalyst was observed in atomic scale by scanning tunneling microscope (STM). We found that the structure of microcrystallites take variety of shapes and have many steps and point defects on their solid surfaces. The attribute of some microcrystallites could be distinguished between anatase and rutile by comparing the interval of the atomic rows on the surfaces. This is the first time that the obvious atomic rows were observed on anatase surface by STM.