Preparation of Phase – Pure Nanocrystalline Anatase and Rutile TiO2 using Hydrolysis of TiCl4 in presence of surfactants

Abstract

Hydrolysis of TiCl₄ was carried out in two different ways to prepare nano crystalline TiO₂. In the first method the hydrolysis of TiCl₄ was carried under high acidic conditions at low temperature. In the second method hydrolysis was carried out using (NH₄)₂SO₄ as an additive. It can be seen that the hydrolysis of TiCl₄ under high acidic conditions promotes the growth of rutile phase of TiO₂, where as hydrolysis in presence of (NH₄)₂SO₄ hold up the formation of rutile phase resulting in the formation of anatase form of TiO₂. The hydrolysis of TiCl₄ was carried out in presence of three different types of surfactants like anionic SDBS, cationic CTAB and non – ionic PEG. The influence of surfactants on the morphology of TiO₂ was discussed. The prepared TiO₂ samples were characterised using XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, UV – Vis and FT – IR spectroscopy. The XRD pattern clearly shows the formation of phase pure particles without the presence other impurities.