Preparation of Rutile TiO₂ Particles with Stacks of Sheets Using a Thermal Oxidation Process

Abstract

TiO₂ particles with stacked flat sheets are synthesized via thermal oxidation of TiO powder in an oxygen atmosphere. The flat sheets are formed under specific synthesis conditions of 1000°C and 6.5 × 10⁴ Pa. The x-ray diffraction pattern demonstrates that the sheets are TiO₂ with a rutile crystallographic structure. The characteristic peaks of the anatase crystal structure of TiO₂ are not detected. From the scanning electron microscopy, the thickness of the sheets is in the range from 80 to 200 nm and the lateral dimensions of the sheets are several tens of µm × several tens of µm, which indicates that the sheets have significant surface area-to-volume ratio when compared with those of other nanostructures. Furthermore, most sheets are aligned parallel to each other.