Research Progress on Crystal Growth Mechanism of Titania/Titanate Nano-powder Materials

Chemical and physical properties of titania/titanate nanomaterials should be strongly influenced by their crystalline phases, grain sizes, morphologies and microstructures. The process of crystal growth contains phase transi- tion and morphological evolution behavior. In this review, the crystal phase transition mechanisms and morphology evolution models were elucidated based on the recent research works of crystal phase and morphology controlled syn- thesis of titania/titanate nano-powder materials, which included Ostwald Ripening, Ostwald's step rule, Oriented At- tachment Growth, Kirkendall Effect, etc. These phase transition mechanisms and morphology evolution models not only offer explanations for the formation of titania/titanate nano-powder materials with different phases and morphologies, but also give a guidance of phase and morphology controlled synthesis of titania/titanate nano-powder materials.