Title: High temperature microwave-assisted synthesis and the physico-chemical characterisation of mesoporous crystalline titania

Authors: B. Sathyaseelan, C. Anand, A. Mano, Javaid S.M. Zaidi, R. Chakravarti, El-Refaie Kenawy, Salem S. Al-Deyab, R. Jayavel, K. Sivakumar, A. Vinu

Addresses: International Center for Nanoarchitectonics, World Premier International (WPI) Research Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan; Department of Physics, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India. ' International Center for Nanoarchitectonics, World Premier International (WPI) Research Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan; Department of Chemistry, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India. ' International Center for Nanoarchitectonics, World Premier International (WPI) Research Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan. ' Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy and Chemical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran-31261, Saudi Arabia. ' International Center for Nanoarchitectonics, World Premier International (WPI) Research Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan. ' Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. ' Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. ' Department of Physics, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India. ' Department of Physics, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India. ' International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, World Premier International (WPI) Research Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan

Abstract: Mesoporous TiO₂ with nanocrystalline architecture has been synthesised by using microwave-assisted high temperature method using polymeric surfactant. The polymeric template was removed by stepwise carbonisation process. The structural order, band structure and the textural parameters of the calcined mesoporous titania were investigated by using numerous sophisticated techniques such as XRD, nitrogen adsorption, HRSEM, UV-Vis DRS and HRTEM. The obtained mesoporous TiO₂ material have mesoscopic order, high surface area, crystalline walls and narrow pore size distribution as evident from the XRD and nitrogen adsorption results. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction pattern obtained for calcined mesoporous TiO₂ shows that the pore wall of the sample is composed of highly crystalline Ti-O-Ti framework with an anatase phase. The photoluminescence properties of the mesoporous TiO₂ was also analysed and the results were discussed in detail.

Keywords: mesoporous TiO2; microwave; crystalline; photoluminescence; high temperature synthesis; physico-chemical characterisation; mesoporous crystalline titania; nanocrystalline; nanotechnology; polymeric surfactants.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2010.034711

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2010 Vol.7 No.9/10/11/12, pp.1065 - 1076

Published online: 17 Aug 2010 *

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