Controllable and Facile One-Pot Synthesis of High Surface Area Amorphous, Crystalline, and Triphasic TiO2: Catalytic and Photocatalytic Applications

Authors

Fatemeh Ariaeinezhad, Gholamhossein Mohammadnezhad, Maryam Zare, Oluseun Akintola, Winfried Plass

Publication date

2024

Journal

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Description

The present study reports a simple, template free and controllable one-step synthesis of a series of amorphous, crystalline, and triphasic TiO2 nanoparticles utilizing titanium(IV) ethoxide as a molecular precursor. By reacting the titanium ethoxide in a mixture of ethanol, acetic acid, and water at reflux temperatures while varying the ratios of the reaction components, it was possible to obtain TiO2 nanoparticles possessing high surface areas and pore volumes as well as diverse crystalline structures. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, TG, DTA, DTG, DRS, and argon sorption. X-ray diffraction and sorption analyses conclusively show that using an excess of ethanol resulted in the formation of an amorphous TiO2 with a high surface area. Furthermore, an increase in the water content while slightly reducing the amount of acid but keeping ethanol still at excess resulted in the …