The structure of orthorhombic Na2Ti9O19, a unit-cell twinning of monoclinic Na2Ti9O19, determined by 1-MV high-resolution electron microscopy

The crystal structure of the orthorhombic disodium nonatitanate, Na₂Ti₉O₁₉, has been determined on the basis of 1-MV high-resolution structure images, in which each site of the titanium and sodium atoms is clearly resolved. The crystal has an orthorhombic symmetry with lattice parameters a = 12.2, b = 3.78, and c = 30.1 Å. The space group of the crystal is either Ccmm or Cc2m. The crystal structure of the orthorhombic nonatitanate is closely related to that of the monoclinic nonatitanate reported previously in which the structure contains sodium titanium dioxide bronze-type units connected by bridging TiO₆ octahedra. The orthorhombic crystal can be described in terms of a unit-cell twinning of the monoclinic crystal. It is shown that migrations of sodium ions occur by electron beam irradiation.