Abstract. One-dimensional titanium oxides (TiO 2 ) nanorods have substantial applications in photocatalytic, nanoelectronic, and photoelectrochemical solar cells. These applications require large quantities of materials and a production technique suitable for future industry fabrication. We demonstrate here a new method of TiO 2 nanorods production from ilmenite sands (FeTiO 3 ). In this process, the roasted ilmenite sand was separated from the iron content and dissolved in the sulphuric acid solution. Separation process of TiO 2 from ilmenite has been carried out by roasting, leaching and precipitation processes. The roasting process was conducted by the addition of Na 2 S at a temperature of 800°C that had been deomposed ilmenite into hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ), anatase TiO 2 , rutile TiO 2 , Na 2 SO 4 , NaFeS 2 and NaFeO 2 . Separation TiO 2 from titanyl sulfate (TiOSO 4 ) after leaching in H 2 SO 4 solution was conducted by hydrolysiscondensation step and complexation step of Fe 2+ content. KCNS solution was used as a complexing agent. The xerogel synthesized TiO 2 then was prepared to 1-D nanostructure of TiO 2 nanorods by hydrothermal process under alkaline condition. By the two-step method, we finally gain the 1D nanorods TiO 2 extracted from ilmenite sand. The characterization using the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) obtained the nanorod morphology at a diameter about 9.6 nm.
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