Impact of extreme conditions on the atomic structure of nanocrystalline titanium monoxide

Titanium monoxide (TiOy) is very attractive material for applied and fundamental sciences, and serves as unique model (standard) object for studying point defects and related effects of non-stoichiometry and ordering due to extremely high vacancies concentration (up to 15 at.%) on both the Ti and O sublattices. Varying these concentrations allows modifying properties of TiOy, and one of the ways to do this is to apply extreme conditions like high pressure (HP) and/or high temperature (HT). Besides, also nanosize effect can influence behavior of structural vacancies. Thus, within this project we want to study nanocrystalline TiOy at extreme conditions. Obtained experimental data will reveal both size effect and effect of extreme conditions on vacancy concentration and crystal structure, and expand our studies of electronic properties of nano- and microcrystalline TiOy.