Ultrafast Synthesis of Urchin-Like Rutile TiO₂ by Single-Step Microwave-Assisted Method.

The preparations of crystal titanium dioxide (TiO2) are often time-consuming multistep processes involving high temperature. Rapid and efficient methods to obtain TiO2 with anatase or rutile phase are desirable. In this paper, we describe an ultrafast single-step method to obtain urchin-like rutile TiO2 particles via microwave irradiation. In the procedure, TiCl4 aqueous solution was used as a reactant and toluene was used as a solvent. It takes only a few minutes without any further heat treatment. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The effect of temperature, irradiation time and the ratio of precursor to solvent on the morphology and crystal structure were studied. The results show urchin-like rutile TiO2 with high stability is formed after only 5 min microwave irradiation at 135 degrees C.