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TiO 2 has been extensively studied in many fields including photocatalysis, electrochemistry, optics, etc. Understanding the mechanism of the anatase–rutile phase transition (ART) process is critical for the design of TiO 2 -based high-activity photocatalysts and tuning its properties for other applications. In this work, the ART process using individual anatase micro-particles with a large percentage of (001) facets was monitored and studied. Phase concentration evolution obtained via Raman microscopy was correlated with the morphological evolution observed in scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. The ART of anatase microcrystals is dominated by surface nucleation and growth, but the ART processes of individual anatase particles are distinctive and depend on the various rutile nucleation sites. Two types of transformation pathways are observed. In one type of ART pathway, the rutile phase nucleated at a corner of an anatase microcrystal and grew in one direction along the edge of the crystal firstly followed by propagation over the rest of the microcrystal in the orthogonal direction on the surface and to the bulk of the crystal. The kinetics of the ART follows the first-order model with two distinct rate constants. The fast reaction rate is from the surface nucleation and growth, and the slow rate is from the bulk nucleation and growth. In the other type of ART pathway, multiple rutile nucleation sites formed simultaneously on different edges and corners of the microcrystal. The rutile phase spread over the whole crystal from these nucleation sites with a small contribution of bulk nucleation. Our study on the ART of individual micro-sized crystals bridges the material gap between bulk crystals and nano-sized TiO 2 particles. The anatase/rutile co-existing particle will provide a perfect platform to study the synergistic effect between the anatase phase and the rutile phase in their catalytic performances. 

Studies of optical properties of doped nanocrystals of tungsten trioxide can elucidate new information about the material. A novel molecule-enhanced photoluminescence (PL) of potassium-doped tungsten trioxide (K x WO) was explored in the presence of different gases to understand charge transfer between molecules and K x WO on the properties of the material. We performed Raman spectroscopy and PL experiments in the presence of gaseous acetone or ethanol mixed with other gases (N 2 and O 2 ). PL at 630 nm from K x WO was observed and further enhanced when the sample was continuously irradiated with a 532 nm CW laser in acetone. A mechanism of strong emission of the PL induced by the charge transfer between the acetone and the K x WO is proposed. 

The direct interfacing of photonic crystal fiber to a metallic nanoantenna has widespread application in nanoscale imaging, optical lithography, nanoscale lasers, quantum communication,in vivosensing, and medical surgery. We report on the fabrication of a needle-shaped plasmonic nanoantenna on the end facet of a photonic crystal fiber using electron-beam-induced evaporation of platinum. We demonstrate the coupling of light from the fiber waveguide mode to the subwavelength nanoantenna plasmonic mode focusing down to the apex of the plasmonic needle using a polarization-resolved far-field side-scatter imaging technique. Our work provides an important step toward widespread application of optical fibers in nearfield spectroscopic techniques such as tip-enhanced Raman and fluorescence microscopy, single-photon excitation and quantum sensors, nanoscale optical lithography, and lab-on-fiber devices.