Epitaxial growth of bronze phase titanium dioxide by molecular beam epitaxy
W. Guo,
D. X. Ji,
Z. S. Yuan,
P. Wang,
Y. F. Nie,
Z. B. Gu,
X. Q. Pan
Affiliations
W. Guo
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
D. X. Ji
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Z. S. Yuan
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
P. Wang
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Y. F. Nie
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Z. B. Gu
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
X. Q. Pan
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Bronze phase titanium dioxide (TiO2-B) has an ideal open structure for applications in high-rate lithium-ion batteries, but high quality and water-free TiO2-B is difficult to synthesize since TiO2-B is energetically less stable compared to other TiO2 polymorphs. Using CaTi5O11 as a template layer can help stabilize TiO2-B phase, but it is still challenging to avoid the formation of TiO2 anatase (TiO2-A) impurity phase. Here we show the synthesis of phase pure TiO2-B films by in situ engineering of the surface quality of the buffer layer using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). By applying surface sensitive in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), the formation of the impurity TiO2 anatase phase on the surface of CaTi5O11 buffer layer can be monitored and eliminated in real time, leaving a clean template surface for the growth of phase pure TiO2-B films.
