Synthesis of TiO2 nanocubes induced by cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) at low temperature

A novel and facile approach to prepare TiO2 nanocubes at 90 degrees C in 4.5 h is presented, and it employs only TiCl4 and cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) as the starting materials. Introduction of CNC which acts as morphology-inducing and coordinate agent results in accelerating the crystal growth of TiO2 particles and promoting the formation of nanocubes. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals regular cube-shaped particles with uniform particle size. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) indicates that particles with high crystallinity grow along the [001] and [110] directions. X-ray power diffraction (XRD) shows the peaks of dominant anatase crystal phase and cellulose. Thermal gravity analysis (TGA) suggests that CNC particles are probably embedded in the TiO2 nanoparticles. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.