Structural, textural, and electronic properties of a nanosized mesoporous ZnxTi1-xO2-) solid solution prepared by a supercritical drying route

Yury V Kolen'ko; Kirill A Kovnir; Anton I Gavrilov; Alexei V Garshev; Pavel E Meskin; Bulat R Churagulov; Michel Bouchard; Christophe Colbeau-Justin; Oleg I Lebedev; Gustaaf Van Tendeloo; Masahiro Yoshimura

doi:10.1021/jp0535341

Structural, textural, and electronic properties of a nanosized mesoporous ZnxTi1-xO2-) solid solution prepared by a supercritical drying route

J Phys Chem B. 2005 Nov 3;109(43):20303-9. doi: 10.1021/jp0535341.

Authors

Yury V Kolen'ko¹, Kirill A Kovnir, Anton I Gavrilov, Alexei V Garshev, Pavel E Meskin, Bulat R Churagulov, Michel Bouchard, Christophe Colbeau-Justin, Oleg I Lebedev, Gustaaf Van Tendeloo, Masahiro Yoshimura

Affiliation

¹ Materials and Structures Laboratory (Center for Materials Design), Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan. kolenko@msl.titech.ac.jp

PMID: 16853626
DOI: 10.1021/jp0535341

Abstract

Mesoporous nanosized TiO2 and Zn(x)Ti(1-x)O(2-x) solid solution having a Zn content below 10 mol % with a particles size between 13 and 17 nm are prepared by a template-free sol-gel method followed by high-temperature supercritical drying in 2-propanol. The structural, textural, and electronic properties of the obtained nanomaterials are methodically investigated by using XRD, SEM, TEM, ED, HREM, EDX, ICP-OES, N(2) adsorption-desorption, Raman spectroscopy, and diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy. It is shown that the proposed synthesis technique leads to the formation of a Zn(x)Ti(1-x)O(2-x) solid solution based on the anatase crystal structure rather than a two-phase sample. High-resolution electron microscopy and electron diffraction indicate that the distribution of zinc atoms over the anatase structure does not lead to a considerable deformation of the crystal structure.