Preparation and electrorheological properties of eggshell-like TiO2 hollow spheres via one step template-free solvothermal method

In this paper, we prepared eggshell-like TiO2 hollow sphere nanoparticles by one-step template-free method, and studied its electrorheological (ER) properties at different electric field strengths. The microstructure, composition, and morphology of eggshell-like TiO2 hollow sphere was characterized by SEM (scanning electron microscopy), TEM (transmission electron microscopy), XRD (X-ray powder diffractometer), FI-IR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), BET (Brunner Emmett Teller) measurements. XRD and FT-IR confirm the existence of pure anatase-type titanium oxide. BET measurement verifys the hollow structure belonging to eggshell-like TiO2 hollow nanoparticles. With the help of SEM and TEM techniques, by changing the reaction time, we learned about the approximate formation process of eggshell - like TiO2 hollow nanoparticles and observed the hollow structure. After a series of characterization methods, we have a further and deeper understanding of eggshell-like TiO2 hollow ball nanoparticles. Thus, we found that the one-step templateless method we used to prepare eggshell like TiO2 hollow spherical nanoparticles is simple and easy to operate, with a short reaction cycle and non-toxic and harmless. And the electrorheological properties, including the variation of shear stress, shear viscosity, as well as electrorheological efficiency of eggshell-like TiO2 hollow sphere-based electrorheological fluid with shear rate under different electric field were studied by using high-speed rotary rheometer. At the same time, the obtained eggshell-like TiO2 hollow spherical nanoparticles have good electrorheological properties and are a kind of electrorheological materials with promising application prospects.