Effect of Solvent Mixing and Calcination Temperature on the Growth of TiO_2 Nanoparticle Prepared via Sol-Gel Method

摘要

Nanostructured Titanium Dioxide is an important material being used in large number of application in the field of energy and environment. Preparing titanium dioxide in a controlled way to get particular anatase or rutile structure is another issue addressed by reasechers presently.We prepared TiO_(2) nanoparticles through sol–gel method using ethanol and methanol mixsolvent and titanium tetra-isopropoxide precurser at a room temperature. And the present work provides a basic understanding of the effect of solvents and temperature on the growth of TiO_(2).The as prepared TiO_(2) were calcined at 300 °C, 400 °C, 500 °C and 600 °C temperatures. The nanostructure and morphology of as prepared nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), andoptical behaviour is observed by UV-Visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The results indicate, the formation of well-defined TiO_(2) particles which get agglomerated at higher calcination temperatures. The morphology displayed in the AFM image of powder sampleexhibit well-structured nano-surface. The morphology of titanium nanoparticles was found to be spherical in shape with diameters ranging from 7 nm to 30 nm as investigated using AFM. In this work, mixing of solvents enhanced the optical properties and surface morphologies. The XRD investigationsof these TiO_(2) nanoparticles confirm the tetragonal form with anatase and rutile phases of TiO_(2). The samples calcined at 300 °C and 400 °C has pure anatase phase while sample calcined at 500 °C accumulate some 65 percentage of rutile phase too and the lastsample calcined at 600 °C show almost 90% rutile phase. The mixing of solvents suppresses the growth rate of TiO_(2) nanoparticles. UV-visible spectra revealed that the TiO_(2) nanoparticles were homogeneously embedded there by indicating stronger spectra in the ultravioletregion. The photoluminescence emission spectra of TiO_(2) nanoparticle has shown sharp peaks with well-defined lattice site.