Physical Properties Study of TiO2 Nanoparticle Synthesis via Hydrothermal Method Using TiO2 Microparticles as Precursor
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were successfully synthesised by hydrothermal method using TiO2 microparticle powder (Merck) as precursor. TiO2 microparticles powder (~160 nm) was mixed with 10 M NaOH and treated hydrothermally at 150 °C and 2 MPa pressure in autoclave for 24 hours. After hydrothermal reaction was completed, the sample was washed, dried and heated at 500 °C for 2 hours to produce TiO2 nanoparticles. The synthesised nanoparticles were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and raman spectroscopy. UV-Vis DRS was used to determine the band gap energy. Field emissions and transmissions electron microscopy images revealed that nanoparticles obtained was about 14 nm. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that TiO2 nanoparticles were anatase phase (tetragonal). The band gap energy of TiO2 nanoparticles was determined to be 3.32 eV.