Inductive heating hydrothermal synthesis of titanium dioxide nanostructures

Nanocrystalline powders of pure anatase and rutile/anatase mixture type of titania with different morphology were prepared through hydrothermal method using titanium tetrachloride in water/citric acid and n-butanol, at 200 degrees C in Teflon lined steel autoclave using inductive heating. The influences of hydrothermal treatment conditions on the formation features, phase composition, particle size and morphology of the products were investigated by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results are compared with titanium dioxide powders obtained through classical hydrothermal synthesis, at same temperature. It was found that inductive heating hydrothermal processing results in formation of considerably low dimensional dispersion of titania nanostructures and the time for synthesis is also much smaller. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.