Study on nanocrystal titanium dioxide catalyst prepared by microwave-hydrothermal method

Using titanium tetrachloride as the raw material, the nano-crystal titanium dioxide was synthesized by microwave-hydrothermal method. All products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), TG-DTA and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Their catalytic capability was investigated by the degradation of acid-fuchsin. The results suggest that the microwave field makes the hydrothermal reaction system reaches a high temperature rapidly and uniformly, and crystallization is accelerated. When Ti(OH)4 is treated for 2.5 h at 20 × 105 Pa in a microwave-hydrothermal vessel, the main crystalline phase of titanium dioxide is anatase and the particle size is under 10 nm. Due to the generation of high temperatures rapidly in the presence of microwave, the crystallization under microwave-hydrothermal conditions is faster than that in the conventional hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic activity of these samples is high, which is proved by the degradation experiments of acid-fuchsin.