The Morphology of TiO2 (B) Nanoparticles

The morphology of a nanomaterial (geometric shape and dimension) has a significant impact on its physical and chemical properties. It is, therefore, essential to determine the morphology of nanomaterials so as to link shape with performance in specific applications. In practice, structural features with different length scales are encoded in a specific angular range of the X-ray or neutron total scattering pattern of the material. By combining small- and wide-angle scattering (typically X-ray) experiments, the full angular range can be covered, allowing structure to be determined accurately at both the meso- and the nanoscale. In this Article, a comprehensive morphology analysis of lithium-ion battery anode material, TiO2 (B) nanoparticles (described in Ren, Y.; Liu, Z.; Pourpoint, F.; Armstrong, A. R.; Grey, C. P.; Bruce, P. G. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 2164), incorporating structure modeling with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), pair distribution function (PDF), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) techniques, is presented. The particles are oblate-shaped, contracted along the [010] direction, this particular morphology providing a plausible rationale for the excellent electrochemical behavior of these TiO2(B) nanoparticles, while also provides a structural foundation to model the strain-driven distortion induced by lithiation. The work demonstrates the importance of analyzing various structure features at multiple length scales to determine the morphologies of nanomaterials.