Ion beam analysis of a structural phase transition in porous TiO2/V2O5 ceramics with rough surfaces

TiO2/V2O5 based ceramic materials applied in catalysis were investigated. Structural properties like the grain diameter of these pressed ceramic powders were analysed by means of Rutherford backscattering (RBS) making use of an analytic model to describe the energy spectra of porous rough samples. Grain diameters of these samples were deduced as function of process temperature and chemical composition and related to a phase transition from the TiO2-Anatase/V2O5-Shcherbinaite to Rutile solid solution (Rutile-ss) structure. RBS data were compared to results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The activation energy for the sintering at the phase transition was estimated to 5.4 eV.