A low-temperature sol-microwave method for ultra-small rutile TITANIUM DIOXIDE nanoparticles

The rutile phase of TiO2 can generally be obtained by high-temperature calcination of anatase nanoparticles.However, calcination undoubtedly leads to agglomeration and growth, hence increasing particle size.So, fabrication of rutile titania at low temperatures is of great importance since the formation of bigger particles can be avoided.Here, ultra-small rutile TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) of ~ 5 nm have been synthesized using a solmicrowave method at low temperature (150 C).These rutile TiO2 NPs have shown no surface defects, such as trivalent titanium (Ti 3+ ) ions and oxygen vacancies.The resulting samples were analyzed by the following methods: X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine the crystallinity and phase composition, Raman spectroscopy to refine the phase composition, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) to identify oxidation states and phase composition in surface layers, and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) to study morphology, phase analysis, and surface quality assessment.