Towards ultrafine TiO2 nanocrystal at room temperature

Abstract

Ultrafine titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanocrystal has attracted enormous interest due to their unusual quantum and surface effects. Here, we propose a facile route to synthesize ultrafine anatase nanocrystal at room temperature via an aqueous sol-gel method using lactic acid (LA) and acetylacetone (Acac) as double chelators. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and size analyzer confirmed that TiO 2 nanocrystal in precursor possessed an average size of *3 nm with a narrow size distribution. Crystal structure characterized by TEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that TiO 2 nanocrystal to be anatase phase. The results of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and BET surface area exhibited that TiO 2 xerogel powder had mono-dispersed particles size and large BET surface area up to 90 m 2 /g.