Polymorphism of nanocrystalline TiO2 prepared in a stagnation flame: formation of the TiO2-II phase

A metastable “high-pressure” phase known as α-PbO2-type TiO2 or TiO2-II is prepared via a single-step synthesis using a laminar premixed stagnation flame. Three other TiO2 polymorphs, namely anatase, rutile and TiO2-B phases, can also be obtained by tuning the oxygen/fuel ratio. TiO2-II is observed...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical science (Cambridge) 2019-02, Vol.10 (5), p.1342-1350
Main Authors: Manuputty, Manoel Y, Dreyer, Jochen A H, Yuan Sheng, Bringley, Eric J, Botero, Maria L, Akroyd, Jethro, Kraft, Markus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatase
Heterojunctions
Lead oxides
Morphology
Nanoparticles
Oxidation
Oxygen
Polymorphism
Rutile
Stagnation
Titanium dioxide
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A metastable “high-pressure” phase known as α-PbO2-type TiO2 or TiO2-II is prepared via a single-step synthesis using a laminar premixed stagnation flame. Three other TiO2 polymorphs, namely anatase, rutile and TiO2-B phases, can also be obtained by tuning the oxygen/fuel ratio. TiO2-II is observed as a mixture with rutile under oxygen-lean flame conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that this phase has been identified in flame-synthesised TiO2. The formation of TiO2-II in an atmospheric pressure flame cannot be explained thermodynamically and is hypothesised to be kinetically driven through the oxidation and solid-state transformation of a sub-oxide TiO2−x intermediate. In this scenario, rutile is nucleated from the metastable TiO2-II phase instead of directly from a molten/amorphous state. Mixtures containing three-phase heterojunctions of anatase, rutile, and TiO2-II nanoparticles as prepared here in slightly oxygen-lean flames might be important in photocatalysis due to enhanced electron–hole separation.
ISSN:2041-6520
2041-6539
DOI:10.1039/c8sc02969e