Abstract
In the presented work, we develop an original simple, green, and rapid protocol to prepare anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocrystal in aqueous solution at room temperature. The secret of this chemical process is the use of ammonium persulfate ((NH4)(2)S2O8) as initiator in the presence of titanium butoxide (Ti(C4H9O)(4)) as precursor. The reaction was conducted at room temperature which make this protocol very useful and efficient. The high crystallinity of the obtained TiO2 nanocrystal was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and high-resolution microscopy, both size and shape were observed by transmission electron microscopy. The average particle size of TiO2 nanocrystal was found to be 7 nm with quasi-spherical shape. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique was performed to confirm the purity of the final product and the oxidation state of titanium. The optical property of the as-prepared TiO2 nanocrystal was studied using UV-visible spectroscopy. The thermal stability was measured using differential thermal analysis combined with thermogravimetric analysis. The decrease of TiO2 nanocrystal size affects well the absorption spectrum of TiO2 (UV absorption peak shift from 340 to 325 nm) and therefore affects their photocatalytic activity. This chemical process offers many advantages compared to previous works especially the soft synthesis condition (room temperature, reaction occurs instantly and the aqueous medium) which make it a very promising fast wet chemical process.