Ethylene glycol-mediated synthesis of nanoporous anatase TiO2 rods and rutile TiO2 self-assembly chrysanthemums

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple ethylene glycol-mediated method to synthesize nanoporous anatase TiO2 rods and rutile TiO2 chrysanthemums, highlighting the role of carbon in phase transition at low temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel low-temperature synthesis approach for nanoporous rutile TiO2 nanomaterials using ethylene glycol and self-assembly growth mechanisms.

Findings

Carbon promotes phase transition to rutile TiO2 at 400°C.

Self-assembly growth leads to chrysanthemum structures.

Method enables low-temperature synthesis of nanoporous rutile TiO2.

Abstract

Nanoporous anatase TiO2 rods and rutile TiO2 chrysanthemums were successfully synthesized via a simple ethylene glycol-mediated synthesis route. Their morphologies, phase compositions and components were characterized by SEM, TEM, Raman and IR, respectively. The results show that a self-assembly growth takes place in the calcination under vacuum, which makes the titanium glycolate rods transform into rutile TiO2/C chrysanthemums rather than anatase TiO2 rods. It also indicates that the carbon plays an important role in the phase transition process which promotes the phase transition to rutile TiO2 at a lower temperature (400 oC). It provides a new approach to prepare nanoporous rutile TiO2 nanomaterials under low temperature.