Formation and structure of Ti-Zn-oxides

In powder mixtures of ZnO and TiO2 the compounds Zn2TiO4, ZnTiO3 and Zn2Ti3O8 can be formed as a result of solid state reactions. The mechanism of the double oxide formation is essentially determined by the microstructure of the powder mixture. Furthermore, the kind of the double oxide depends on the TiO2-modification. There exist structural similarities between Zn2TiO4 (spinel) and TiO2 (anatase) on the one hand and ZnTiO3 and TiO2 (rutile) on the other hand. The compound Zn2Ti3O8 is formed only on the basis of she Zn2TiO4-phase. The crystal structure of Zn2Ti3O8 was derived as a defect spinel. The unoccupied sites of cations are not arranged statistically but they are ordered in the structure. This order leads to the decrease of the space group symmetry from Fd-(3) over bar m to P4(3)32.