Sol-gel synthesis of nanosized titanium phosphates

ABSTRACT

Alpha-titanium phosphate was prepared by three methods: Solid-solid reaction, Direct precipitation and Sol-gel methods. The produced samples were dried and characterized by using X-ray diffraction, IR spectra, thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy. For the samples prepared by solid-solid reaction, a residual of unreacted materials was observed which disappeared by increasing the sintering temperature. The other two methods give a crystalline single phase of alpha-TiP. By increasing the refluxing time, the crystallinity of the samples improved. The IR results show the main absorption bands which characterized the phosphate compounds. Also, the IR patterns indicate that the TiP is coordinated as Ti-O-P-O-Ti and not TiO2 which coordinated as Ti-O-Ti. The thermal analysis indicates that the alpha-TiP underwent dehydration and it converted to alpha-TiP2O7 at high temperature. The characterization of the different samples indicates that the products depend on the method of preparation and on the controlled preparation