EFFECT OF AGING AND CALCINATION ON MORPHOLOGY AND PROPERTIES OF SYNTHESIZED NANOCRYSTALLINE TiO₂

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles were prepared by precipitation of aqueous TiCl₄ solution with ammonium hydroxide as precipitation agent. Freshly prepared Titania gel is allowed to crystallize under refluxing and stirring condition for 6 h over 90°C and oven dried over night in temperature above 100 C. X-ray diffraction studies on oven dried powder indicate formation of anatase phase TiO₂ with average crystalline size of 4.5 nm. Powders with variable amount of anatase and rutile phase were prepared by calcination of pure anatase in the temperature range 400-1000 c for 4 h. the XRD patterns show that phase transition from anatase to rutile occur in calcination above 600°C. The morphology and microstructure characteristics were obtained by XRD, TEM. and TGA.