Preparation and characterization of Gd2Ti2O7 by microwave method

Abstract

ABSTRACTUsing Gd(NO3)3·6H2O, TiCl4, citric acid and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as major materials, the nanoparticulate Gd2Ti2O7 samples were successfully prepared for the first time by microwave method. The samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). XRD and SEM demonstrate the successful synthesis of single phase Gd2Ti2O7 and an average grain size of 50–70 nm in diameter. The DRS result shows that the prepared Gd2Ti2O7 has strong light absorption and an optical absorption onset of 315nm, corresponding to an optical band gap of 3.9 eV. The photocatalytic experiment demonstrates that nanoparticulate Gd2Ti2O7 show highly photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange.