Syntheses of zirconium-containing titania particles with spherical morphology and uniform size by microfluidic reactions

Abstract

Monodispersed spherical particles of zirconium-containing titania-octadecylamine with the size of 300–400 nm and CV value of around 5% were synthesized by a sol–gel reaction in the microreactor. Octadecylamine played a roll as a porogen as well as morphological template of spherical particles. The incorporation of zirconium was confirmed by SEM, TG-DTA, XRD and XRF. The hybrids were converted to nanoporous particles without morphological alteration which had the specific surface area of 300 m2·g−1 after removing the porogen (octadecylamine) and that of 60 m2·g−1 after subsequent heat treatment at 600°C, while non-porous products formed by calcination at 600°C without washing with hydrochloric acid/ethanol mixture to remove octadecylamine.