Highly active photocatalytic TiO2 powdwers obtained by thermohydrolysis of TiCl4 in water

Highly active photocatalytic TiO2 samples were synthesized by thermohydrolysis of TiCl4 in water at 100 °C. Rutile, binary mixtures of anatase and rutile or anatase and brookite, or ternary mixtures of anatase, brookite and rutile were obtained depending on the TiCl4/H2O ratio. Rietveld refinements were employed to evaluate the crystalline phases and composition of the mixtures. The effect of the aging time on the phase composition was also studied. The band gap values of the samples were obtained by the diffuse reflectance spectra. The position of the flat band potentials of anatase, brookite and rutile was determined measuring the photovoltage as a function of the suspension pH. From thes…

Thermal Evolution of Titania Nanostructured Powders Obtained from Reverse Micelle Method