Structural and Optical Characterization of Synthesized TiO2 Nanopowder Using Sol-Gel Technique

The nanocrystalline TiO2 powder was synthesized by sol-gel method. The XRD analysis reveals that TiO2 powder was highly crystalline (anatase phase) and nanostructured with tetragonal system. The average crystallite size after calcined at 673K is found to be 7.7 nm. The surface morphological studies using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) exhibit that the formation of nanosized TiO2 particles with less densification nature. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) topography exhibits the uniform distribution of spherical-shaped particles. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirms the presence of Titanium and Oxygen in synthesized TiO2 nanopowder. The value of optical bandgap of TiO2 nanopowder calculated from UV-Visible spectrum is 3.45 eV. The presence of TiO2 particles is confirmed from the dominant fourier transform infrared (FTIR) peaks at 621 cm(-1) and 412 cm(-1).