Titania-Ceria surfactant assisted sol-gel synthesis and characterization

• Published in: Építöanyag (Online) no. 1; p. 8
• Main Authors: Torres-Romero, A, Cajero-Juárez, M, Contreras-García, M E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Budapest Scientific Society of the Silicate Industry 01.01.2017
• Subjects: Anatase; Catalysis; Ceramics; Cerium nitrate; Cerium oxides; Chemistry; Composite materials; Metal oxides; Methods; Microemulsions; Morphology; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nitrates; Particle size distribution; Photocatalysis; Photoluminescence; Photosensitivity; Physics; Remediation; Reverse micelles; Sol-gel processes; Solar energy conversion; Solid state; Surfactants; Synthesis; Titanium; Titanium oxides; Ultraviolet radiation; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 2064-4477
• DOI: 10.14382/epitoanyag-jsbcm.2017.2

The nanoparticles of titanium dioxide are important in a wide range of applications such as catalysis, environmental remediation and solar energy conversion. While cerium oxide is rareearth oxide material used in the fields of photoluminescence, photosensitive material to UV radiation. Furthermore, research on the synthesis of nanoparticles of titanium dioxide has given rise to different methods such as sol-gel, in solid states, hydrothermal processes, among others. The process of solid state synthesis is most often used for the technical production of ceramic materials, while the sol-gel has gained much popularity in recent decades. Between these methods, microemulsion of reverse micelles technique, is one of the most versatile allowing control of particle properties such as size distribution, morphology and surface area. In this work, titania-ceria nanoparticles in anatase phase were synthesized by sol-gel method assisted by microemulsion reverse micelle using titanium butoxide and cerium nitrate hexahydrate as the precursors. The sample was thermally treated at 600 °C at a rate of 3 °C min-1. The residence time of the sample at this temperature was 2 hrs. TEM and XRD analysis were used to characterize the samples obtained. According to the results, the obtained nanoparticles present spherical morphology and have a size distribution of 5 nm for CeO2, 9.5 for TiO2 and 14, 17 and 20 nm for the doped TiO2 with 5, 10 and 15% CeO2, respectively. The results indicate that the CeO2 was incorporated into the network of titania.