A novel approach for the study of the kinetics of sol-gel synthesis of titanium dioxide nanoparticles as catalyst support

Owing to a wide range of application in kinetics (photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, etc.), it is of high importance to define in details corelation between structure and synthesis of TiO2 particles. The aim is to elucidate the kinetics of TiO2 solid phase formation by sol-gel approach as newly-structured suitable carrier of batteries/fuel cells electrocatalytic materials. TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized from TiCl3 precursor under different conditions (concentration, pH) in an aqueous medium. Formation of a new solid phase was continuously monitored by a dynamic conductometric measurements induced by high frequency impedance sinusoidal voltage perturbations of a conductometric cell. The particle size distributions of the obtained TiO2 sols were characterized by the dynamic light scattering method, while the microstructure data were obtained by the scanning electron microscopy. The typical change of high frequency impedance during TiO2 synthesis is presented in Figure 1. It was found that the process proceeds through at least five phases (I–V, Figure 1, seen as high frequency impedance decrease) of different rates and durability, which depend on synthesis conditions.