The formula for surface energy was modified in accordance with the slab model of molecular dynamics (MDs) simulations, and MD simulations were performed to investigate the relaxed structure and surface energy of perfect and pit rutile TiO2 (1 1 0). Simulation results indicate that the slab with a surface more than four layers away from the fixed layer expresses well the surface characteristics of rutile TiO2 (1 1 0) surface; and the surface energy of perfect rutile TiO2 (1 1 0) surface converges to 1.801 +/- 0.001 J m(-2). The study on perfect and pit slab models proves the effectiveness of the modified formula for surface energy. Moreover, the surface energy of pit surface is higher than that of perfect surface and exhibits an upper-concave parabolic increase and a step-like increase with increasing the number of units deleted along [0 0 1] and [1 1 0], respectively. Therefore, in order to obtain a higher surface energy, the direction along which atoms are cut out should be chosen in accordance with the pit sizes: [(1) over bar 1 0] direction for a small pit size and [0 0 1] direction for a big pit size; or alternatively the odd units of atoms along [1 1 0] direction are removed. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.