Active Sites for Adsorption and Reaction of Molecules on Rutile TiO₂(110) and Anatase TiO₂(001) Surfaces (cited: 1)

The reactivity of specific sites on rutile TiO₂(110)-(1×1) surface and anatase TiO₂(001)-(1×4) surface has been comparably studied by means of high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy. At the rutile TiO₂(110)-(1×1) surface, we find the defects of oxygen vacancy provide distinct reactivity for O₂ and CO₂ adsorption, while the terminal fivefold-coordinated Ti sites dominate the photocatalytic reactivity for H₂O and CH₃OH dissociation. At the anatase TiO₂(001)-(1×4) surface, the sixfold-coordinated terminal Ti sites at the oxidized surface seem to be inert in both O₂ and H₂O reactions, but the Ti-rich defects which introduce the Ti³⁺ state into the reduced surface are found to provide high reactivity for the reactions of O₂ and H₂O. By comparing the reactions on both rutile and anatase surfaces under similar experimental conditions, we find the reactivity of anatase TiO₂(001) is actually lower than rutile TiO₂(110), which challenges the conventional knowledge that the anatase (001) is the most reactive TiO₂ surface. Our findings could provide atomic level insights into the mechanisms of TiO₂ based catalytic and photocatalytic chemical reactions.