Influence of process parameters on the synthesis of nano-titania by sol-gel route

Nano-rutile-titania has been synthesized via a sol-gel route using titanium tetra n-butoxide as the precursor and ethyl alcohol as the solvent at a low temperature of 80 °C. When synthesized with HCl as the catalyst, the powders crystallized without calcination, while the materials prepared using acetylacetone as the catalyst required heating to ∼300 °C to initiate the crystallization. The anatase to rutile transformation temperature decreased with increasing water content. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.