Fabrication of titania nanowires incorporated paper sheets and study of their optical properties

Paper sheets were fabricated by incorporating TiO2 nanowires (NWs) (diameters ca. 20 to 40 nm and length between 1 to 7 mu m) as filler by the standard Handsheet making procedure. The TiO2 NWs were synthesized by hydrothermal method using commercial TiO2 as precursor. It was observed that the TiO2 NWs incorporation in the paper sheet improves the optical properties such as brightness from 55.2 to 61.9% ISO and opacity from 93.1 to 97.5% ISO. The TiO2 NWs as well as the NWs incorporated paper sheets were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis.