Characterization of anatase nanoscale thin film structures synthesized from Hydrothermally Treated Titanium (IV) Butoxide

Abstract

Titanium (IV) n-butoxide was hydrothermally treated at 1100C for various times to yield the anatase TiO2 (a-TiO2). Thin films were subsequently formed by the flow coating technique to yield submicronic films constituted by nanometric sized titania particles. The uniform sized TiO2 phase was characterized by XRD and HRTEM. Increasing the hydrothermal reaction time increased the average particle size within the nanometric range. Measurements of lattice fringe dimensions showed that crystallographically controlled attachment of discrete particles also called oriented alignment grown nanocrystals was the mechanism responsible for crystal growth.