Revisiting the Thermal Decomposition of Layered γ-Titanium Phosphate and Structural Elucidation of Its Intermediate Phases

Synthesis and structural characterisation of solid titanium(IV) phosphate materials by means of X-ray absorption and NMR spectroscopy

Solid titanium phosphate, TiP, materials hold great promise for wastewater treatment for removal of metal ions and complexes. A series of TiP materials, synthesised at mild conditions and short reaction times, have been structurally characterised using solid-state X-ray absorption spectroscopy, phosphorus and titanium K edge XANES and EXAFS, and ³¹P and ^47/49Ti NMR spectroscopy. The titanium K edge EXAFS data of α-Ti(HPO₄)₂·H₂O (α-TiP) revealed octahedral coordination of oxygens around titanium. Repeated washing of primary β-/γ-TiP with hydrochloric acid results in formation of a weakly ordered solid, TiO(OH)(H₂PO₄)·H₂O, TiP1-H. The structure of TiP1-H is shown by Ti EXAFS to be a titanyl compound, containing a short TiO bond. The analogous data for linked titanium phosphate compounds (LTP) disclosed that inter-linkage occurs between α-TiP and titanyl phosphate units, supported by ³¹P-³¹P NOESY NMR data. ^47/49Ti NMR and Ti pre-edge XANES show evidence of two different titanium environments in LTP, one very similar to that observed in TiP1-H and a second more symmetric octahedral environment. Data are discussed in terms of induced acidic hydrolyses of titanium(IV) and phosphate counterpart during washings with hydrochloric acid and water. A straightforward relation between synthesis parameters/post synthetic treatment and structural re-arrangement in the materials is established.

The ability of a fibrous titanium oxophosphate for nitrogen-adsorption above room temperature

Nitrogen-fixation by an inorganic material at above-ambient temperature provoked by a structural change.

A flow-through reaction cell for in situ X-ray diffraction and absorption studies of heterogeneous powder-liquid reactions and phase transformations

A portable powder-liquid high-corrosion-resistant reaction cell has been designed to follow in situ reactions by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) techniques. The cell has been conceived to be mounted on the experimental stations for diffraction and absorption of the Spanish CRG SpLine-BM25 beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Powder reactants and/or products are kept at a fixed position in a vertical geometry in the X-ray pathway by a porous membrane, under forced liquid reflux circulation. Owing to the short pathway of the X-ray beam through the cell, XRD and XAS measurements can be carried out in transmission configuration/mode. In the case of the diffraction technique, data can be collected with either a point detector or a two-dimensional CCD detector, depending on specific experimental requirements in terms of space or time resolution. Crystallization processes, heterogeneous catalytic processes and several varieties of experiments can be followed by these techniques with this cell. Two experiments were carried out to demonstrate the cell feasibility: the phase transformations of layered titanium phosphates in boiling aqueous solutions of phosphoric acid, and the reaction of copper carbonate and L-isoleucine amino acid powders in boiling aqueous solution. In this last case the shrinking of the solid reactants and the formation of Cu(isoleucine)(2) is observed. The crystallization processes and several phase transitions have been observed during the experiments, as well as an unexpected reaction pathway.