Characterization of Titania Nanoparticles Synthesized by the Hydrothermal Method with Low Grade Mineral Precursors

The objective of this work is to utilize a low-grade synthetic rutile to produce high-grade titania nanoparticles. Due to the nature of the precursor, the hydrothermal method needs modification in order to accommodate the precursors and chemical reagents. The product will be characterized with the XRD (crystallite size and crystallinity), EDXRF (chemical composition), SEM (Morphology), N-2 adsorption-desorption (Surface Area) and UV-Vis-NIR. Results revealed a crystallite size of less than 20 nm, a surface area of 186.8 m(2)/g, a morphology that is a combination of agglomeration and particles, and an optical band gap of 3.23 eV. It is concluded that synthetic rutile is a viable precursor to produce high quality titania nanoparticles.