Homogeneous precipitation of TiO2 ultrafine powders from aqueous TiOCl2 solution

Crystalline TiO2 powders were prepared by the homogeneous precipitation method simply by heating and stirring an aqueous TiOCl2 solution with a Ti4+ concentration of 0.5M at room temperature to 100 degrees C under a pressure of 1 atm. TiO2 precipitates with pure rutile phase having spherical shapes 200-400 nm in diameter formed between room temperature and 65 degrees C, whereas TiO2 precipitates with anatase phase started to form at temperatures >65 degrees C. Precipitates with pure anatase phase having irregular shapes 2-5 mu m in size formed at 100 degrees C. Possibly because of the crystallization of an unstable intermediate product, TiO(OH)(2), to TiO2. xH(2)O during precipitation, crystalline and ultrafine TiO2 precipitates were formed in aqueous TiOCl2 solution without hydrolyzing directly to Ti(OH)(4). Also, formation of a stable TiO2 rutile phase between room temperature and 65 degrees C was likely to occur slowly under these conditions, although TiO2 with rutile phase formed thermodynamically at higher temperatures.