Nano-crystalline titanium dioxide formed by reactive plasma synthesis

Abstract

Nano-crystalline titanium dioxide finds extensive applications in photocatalytic degradation of harmful organic compounds pollutants in air and water. Synthesis and characterization of nano-crystalline TiO₂ powder by reactive thermal plasma synthesis is presented here. Processing was carried out in a plasma reactor designed and developed in our laboratory. TiH₂ powder was used as the precursor, which was injected into the thermal plasma jet along with air as the reactive gas. TiH₂ particles, as they traverse the plasma jet, react with oxygen to form nano-sized TiO₂ powder. Nano-sized TiO₂ was also synthesized using Ti powder as the precursor. X-ray diffraction results showed complete conversion of the precursor into oxide. More than 75% of TiO₂ formed was present as anatase. TEM showed well-resolved nano-sized particles with more than 70% lying in the range of a few nanometer to 20 nm. The powder has been used to study photocatalytic degradation of dye.