One-step synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles using simple chemical technique

Abstract

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2) have been extensively investigated because of its high chemical sustainability, optic properties, and adaptation to the environment. These studies include applications in heterogeneous catalysts, solar cells, coating technology, and electrical devices. TiO2 particles in the nanometer scale can remove limitations, such as the absorbance of organic materials, because of a high surface area to volume ratio. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles, were synthesized using a simple wet chemical method. Their physico-chemical properties were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The TEM results showed that the mean size of as-synthesized TiO2 was 5 nm with high crystalline anatase phase. The SEM observations revealed that the size of nanoparticles increased with annealing temperature and the morphology of the particles changed to the spherical shape. The crystal structure of the nanoparticles before and after annealing was done by XRD analysis. The rutile phase was formed after heat treatment at 600oC for 3 hours.