ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Nano-titanium oxide doped with gold, silver, and palladium — synthesis and structural characterization

Wanda Ziemkowska, Dariusz Basiak, Patrycja Kurtycz, Agnieszka Jastrzębska, Andrzej Olszyna, and Antoni Kunicki

Faculty of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, Noakowskiego 3, 00-664, Warsaw, Poland

E-mail: ziemk@ch.pw.edu.pl

Abstract: Nano-titania doped with noble metals (Au/TiO₂, Ag/TiO₂, Pd/TiO₂) has been synthesized by mild hydrolysis of the mixture of metal salts or complexes and titanium isopropoxide ((iPr-O)₄Ti). After thermal decomposition of the obtained precursors, nanomaterials were formed. Morphological characterization of the nanomaterials was provided by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and stereological analysis, determining the BET specific surface area, and BJH nanoporosity (pore volume, pore size). It has been found that the structure of nanomaterials (size of nanoparticles and agglomerates) depended strongly on the method of the (iPr-O)₄Ti hydrolysis. A minor dependence on the kind of solvents and precursors of noble metals was observed. The presence of doping metal nanoparticles was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Nanomaterial phases were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD). According to the XRD patterns, Ag/TiO₂ and Pd/TiO₂ products with doping metals in their oxidized form contain Ag-Ti and Pd-Ti phases. Peaks of the metal oxides Ag₂O and PdO are absent in the XRD patterns. The average size of TiO₂ nanoparticles is situated in the region of 20–60 nm, whereas metals are present as about 10–15 nm sized particles and fine nanoparticles.

Keywords: nano-titania – gold – silver – palladium – nanoparticles

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-014-0537-7

Chemical Papers 68 (7) 959–968 (2014)