Synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles via a novel mechanochemical method

A novel preparation method for titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles is introduced in this paper. In this process, titanyl sulphate (TiOSO4*xH2SO4*yH2O) and NaCl powders were used as the reactant and diluent phases, respectively. In order to understand the thermal behavior of the reactant, thermo-gravimetric analysis/differential thermo-gravimetry (TGA/DTG) was conducted. The starting mixture of the reactant and NaCl powders were loaded into a planetary ball mill, under argon atmosphere at 400 rpm. The final products were obtained by annealing the milled powders in the temperature range of 600-900 deg C and subsequently by washing out the water-soluble NaCl. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations showed that nanosized titania particles have equiaxed shape with the mean size in the range of 15-50 nm. Mechanism of the formation of TiO2 during milling was studied via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.