ABSTRACT
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been used extensively in the environmental protection procedures: for example, air purification and water disinfection [1]. The properties of TiO2, especially its photocatalytic properties, have proved to be strongly related to its crystal structure, morphology, and crystallite size. TiO2 is known to crystallize as rutile (tetragonal), anatase (tetragonal), and brookite (orthorombic) phases [2]. Among them, TiO2 exists mostly as anatase and rutile phases with a tetragonal structure. Anatase TiO2 has a superior photocatalytic ability compared to rutile TiO2 and poly crystalline TiO2 is superior to amorphous TiO2 [3]. The properties of TiO2 depend upon its structure and form. In comparison to other crystalline phases of TiO2, such as rutile and brookite, the most photoactive phase of TiO2 is anatase. The presence of brookite phase along with anatase and the conversion of anatase to rutile phase at high temperatures are the major challenging factors for the synthesis of pure anatase TiO2. Here we
present a simple and cost effective method of producing nanocrystalline and pure anatase TiO2 in powder form at lower temperature by polymer gel technique. It is also one of the most effective techniques to produce pure nanocrystalline TiO2 in powder form.
