Synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of nanostructured anatase titania: A photocatalyst

Nanocrystalline TiO2 was synthesized by the sol-gel process by controlling the crystallite size through calcination. The resulting nanocrystals were characterized using XRD, FT-Raman, SEM/EDX, DSC/TGA and UV–Vis spectroscopic techniques. XRD patterns confirmed the presence of only pure 100% anatase phase TiO2. The surface morphology of the nanotitania was evaluated with Scanning Electron Microscopy. The purity of the sol-gel-derived TiO2 was confirmed through EDX measurements. The band gap of the nanotitania was found to be 3.6 eV from UV–Vis measurements. The pHzpc of the titania sample was measured as 5.90.