Interrelationship of structural elements on TiO2(100)-(1×3)

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has been used to investigate the interaction of nanoscale structural elements associated with rutile TiO2(100)-(1×3). These are the 1×3 reconstruction, vicinal off-cut steps in the [001] direction, and up-down steps in the [010] direction. The STM data image the microfacet morphology of the 1×3 reconstruction suggested by diffraction measurements. They also provide an explanation for the stabilization of the up-down steps by the vicinal off-cut, which involves maximizing the area of the (110) microfacets at the expense of high-energy (001) step edges.