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 °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.