Preparation of anatase TiO 2 nanoparticles with high thermal stability and specific surface area by alcohothermal method

Abstract

Anatase TiO 2 powders with high thermal stability and specific surface area were successfully prepared by an alcohothermal method, using tetra-n-butyl titanate [Ti(OC 4H 9 n) 4] as a precursor. Even calcination at 800 °C for 4 h, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the obtained TiO 2 showed that the main crystal phase was still anatase. The specific surface area of the TiO 2 calcined at 200 °C was 219.5 m 2·g − 1 , and that of the samples calcined at 800 °C still maintained 102.9 m 2·g − 1 with narrow pore-size distribution (2.0–10.0 nm). High magnification transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR) spectra and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and simultaneous differential thermal analysis (SDTA) indicated that alcohothermal method was favorable for the formation of the very small TiO 2 particles and TiOC 4H 9 groups on the surface of TiO 2, which were regarded as key effects to increase the thermal stability of anatase TiO 2.