A Raman spectroscopic and TEM study on the structural evolution of Na2Ti3O7 during the transition to Na2Ti6O13

The synthesis of sodium hexatitanate from sodium trititanate was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The structural evolution from trititanate to hexatitanate was studied using Raman spectra, XRD and HRTEM techniques. It was found that the Raman bands at 279 cm⁻¹ corresponding to very long Ti O bonds and at 883 cm⁻¹ corresponding to the very short Ti O bonds decrease in intensity and finally disappear during the transition from sodium trititanate to sodium hexatitanate. The band at 922 cm⁻¹ corresponding to an intermediate‐length Ti O bond was observed to become stronger with the increase in temperature, indicating that there is no terminal oxygen atom in the crystal structure of Na₂Ti₆O₁₃ and that all the oxygen atoms become linearly coordinated by two titanium atoms. Furthermore, the TiO₆ octahedron in Na₂Ti₆O₁₃ are more regular because the very long (2.2 Å) or very short (1.7 Å) Ti O bonds disappear. It is revealed that the phase transition from trititanate to hexatitanate is a step‐by‐step slipping process of the TiO₆ octahedral slabs with the loss of sodium cations, and a new phase with formula Na_1.5H_0.5Ti₃O₇ has been discovered as an intermediate phase to interlink Na₂Ti₃O₇ and Na₂Ti₆O₁₃. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.