Preparation and Characterization of TiO2 Nanoparticles Prepared by Sol-Gel Method

In this study, TiO2 nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol-gel method. Then, the effects of the different pHs, stirring times, surfactants (CTAB and Span 20) and temperatures on TiO2 nanoparticles were studied. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses were used to characterize the samples. The observations revealed that, the pH of 3.5 and 36 h stirring time could provide dispersion without agglomeration in nanoparticle powder with rutile and anatase phases. However, at higher pH, the powder resulted in the formation of anatase phase. Implementing CTAB as a surfactant modified the shape, size, and distribution of TiO2 nanoparticles better than the Span 20 as a surfactant. Finally, the nanopowder was calcined at 450, 550 and 650 °C. It obviously showed thatby increasing the temperature, the size of nanoparticles increased which might be due to accelerate the crystal growth of titanium dioxide at high calcination temperature.