Ab initio simulations on rutile-based titania nanowires

Abstract

The rod symmetry groups for monoperiodic (1D) nanostructures have been applied for construction of models for bulk-like TiO2 nanowires (NWs) cut from a rutile-based 3D crystal along the chosen [001] and [110] directions of crystallographic axes. In this study, we have considered nanowires described by both the Ti-atom centered rotation axes as well as the hollow site centered axes passing through the interstitial positions between the Ti and O atoms closest to the axes. The most stable [001]-oriented TiO2 NWs with rhombic cross sections are found to display the energetically preferable {110} facets only while the nanowires with quasi-square sections across the [110] axis are formed by the alternating { 11̄0 } and {001} facets. For simulations on rutile-based nanowires possessing different diameters for each NW type, we have performed large-scale ab initio Density Functional Theory (DFT) and hybrid DFT-Hartree Fock (DFT-HF) calculations with total geometry optimization within the Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA) in the form of the Perdew-Becke-Ernzenhof (PBE) exchange-correlation functionals (PBE and PBE0, respectively), using the formalism of linear combination of localized atomic functions (LCAO). We have simulated both structural and electronic properties of TiO2 NWs depending both on orientation and position of symmetry axes as well as on diameter and morphology of nanowires.