Low-temperature hydrothermal synthesis of phase-pure rutile titania nanocrystals: Time temperature tuning of morphology and photocatalytic activity

Journal Article · Tue Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Materials Research Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.materresbull.2006.11.032· OSTI ID:21000705

Nag, Manaswita ^[1]; Basak, Pratyay ^[1]; Manorama, Sunkara V ^[1]

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1. Nanomaterials Laboratory, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry Division, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad 500007 (India)

In this paper, a simple and efficient methodology for the low-temperature synthesis of phase-pure nanocrystalline rutile TiO{sub 2} with tuned morphology is reported. Control on morphology has been achieved by simple variation of the hydrothermal process, starting with titanium-tetrachloride without using mineralizers, additives or templating agents. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns showed no other phases of TiO{sub 2} establishing the formation of phase-pure rutile titania in the entire temperature range of synthesis (40-150 deg. C) and most noticeably even at a considerably low temperature (40 deg. C). Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra strongly indicated the presence of hydroxyl group or surface adsorbed water and the thermogravimetry and differential thermo-gravimetry (TG-DTG) showed no phase change up to 1000 deg. C. A combination of reaction parameters (temperature, time) with a thorough transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study demonstrated the formation of phase-pure rutile titania nanocrystals as nano-rods, bunched nano-spindles or spherical nanoparticles depending on the hydrothermal reaction conditions. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized nanocrystals has been successfully evaluated on the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO), a well-known pollutant azo-dye, as a model reaction.

• OSTI ID: 21000705
• Journal Information: Materials Research Bulletin, Journal Name: Materials Research Bulletin Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 42; ISSN MRBUAC; ISSN 0025-5408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CRYSTALS
ELECTRON DIFFRACTION
FOURIER TRANSFORMATION
GRAVIMETRY
HYDROTHERMAL SYNTHESIS
HYDROXIDES
INFRARED SPECTRA
METHYL ORANGE
MORPHOLOGY
NANOSTRUCTURES
PHOTOCATALYSIS
RUTILE
SURFACE PROPERTIES
THERMAL GRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS
TITANIUM CHLORIDES
TITANIUM OXIDES
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION