Phase Transformation Behavior at Low Temperature in Hydrothermal Treatment of Stable and Unstable Titania Sol

Influence of the Heat Treatment on the Particles Size and on the Crystalline Phase of TiO₂ Synthesized by the Sol-Gel Method

Titanium biomaterials’ response has been recognized to be affected by particles size, crystal structure, and surface properties. Chemical and structural properties of these nanoparticle materials are important, but their size is the key aspect. The aim of this study is the synthesis of TiO₂ nanoparticles by the sol-gel method, which is an ideal technique to prepare nanomaterials at low temperature. The heat treatment can affect the structure of the final product and consequently its biological properties. For this reason, the chemical structure of the TiO₂ nanoparticles synthesized was investigated after each heat treatment, in order to evaluate the presence of different phases formed among the nanoparticles. FTIR spectroscopy and XRD have been used to evaluate the different structures. The results of these analyses suggest that an increase of the calcination temperature induces the formation of mixed-crystalline-phases with different content of anatase and rutile phases. The results obtained by SEM measurements suggest that an increase in the particles size accompanied by a noticeable aggregation of TiO₂ nanoparticles is due to high temperatures achieved during the thermal treatments and confirmed the presence of different content of the two crystalline phases of titanium dioxide.

Structural and photocatalytic studies of Mn doped TiO2 nanoparticles

Mn-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles (Ti(1-)(x)Mn(x)O(2); where x=0.00-0.10) were synthesized by sol-gel method. The synthesized products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and UV-Vis spectrometer. The SEM and TEM micrographs revealed the agglomerated spherical-like morphology and measurements show that the size of crystallites is in the range of 10-20 nm. Optical measurements indicated a red shift in the absorption band edge after Mn doping. Direct allowed band gap of undoped and Mn-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles measured by UV-Vis spectrometer were 3.00 and 2.95 eV at 300 °C, respectively. Photocatalytic activities of TiO(2) and Mn doped TiO(2) were evaluated by irradiating the sample solution of methylene blue (MB) dye under ultraviolet and visible light exposure. It was found that Mn-doped TiO(2) bleaches MB much faster than undoped TiO(2) upon its exposure to the visible light as comparison to ultraviolet light. The experiment demonstrated that the photodegradation efficiency of Mn-doped TiO(2) was significantly higher than that of undoped TiO(2) upon its exposure to visible light.

Fabrication of rutile rod-like particle by hydrothermal method: an insight into HNO3 peptization

In this work, well-crystallized and well-dispersed rod-like TiO(2) rutile particles were prepared by hydrothermally treating acid-peptized TiO(2) sols at relatively low temperatures of 200 and 240 degrees C. Raman spectra, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the peptized sols before and after hydrothermal treatment. The results showed that HNO(3) peptization of amorphous TiO(2) was able to promote, at room temperature, the formation of crystalline phases of anatase or rutile, at low (HNO(3)/Ti=1) or at high (HNO(3)/Ti=4) concentrations of peptizer, respectively. However, after hydrothermal treatment, well-crystalline rutile developed independent of the starting concentration of the peptizer. The formation of well-dispersed rutile particles is attributed to high long-range electrostatic forces between particles in the presence of the high concentration of the peptizer. The acid peptization would easily break the oxolation bonds between triple bond Ti-O-Ti triple bond, promote the formation of titanium species with fewer oxolation bonds depending on the amount of acid, and create conditions for the formation of rutile nuclei after structural rearrangements.

Preparation of Nanosized Crystalline CdS Particles by the Hydrothermal Treatment

We report studies of the effect of hydrothermal treatment on physical properties such as crystalline phase, size, and morphology of nanosized cadmium sulfide (CdS) particles. CdS precipitates have been synthesized by the reaction of Cd(NO(3))(2) with Na(2)S at room temperature. These CdS precipitates have been hydrothermally treated in the range 120-240 degrees C with variation of the treatment time. The effects of acid catalysts and other additives were also investigated. The particles prepared were characterized by XRD, TEM, and BET methods. With increased hydrothermal treatment temperature and time, crystallization from amorphous to crystalline form, cubic or hexagonal, and an increase of particle size occurred. CdS particles of well-developed hexagonal form were obtained at a hydrothermal treatment temperature of 240 degrees C; the primary hexagonal grain size was on the order of 20-30 nm. The addition of an acid catalyst, HCl, or of Cd(NO(3))(2) into the precipitate sol promoted crystal growth and phase transformation during the hydrothermal treatment, but another additive, Na(2)S, showed the opposite trend. It appears that hydrothermal treatment combined with proper additives could be an effective method for preparation of nanosize crystalline CdS particles. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.