A facile microwave-induced synthesis of titanium pyrophosphate nanocrystals
Abstract Titanium pyrophosphate (TiP 2 O 7 ) nanocrystals are synthesized using a facile microwave (MW) heating method, in which titanium hydroxide (TH) and H 3 PO 4 (85%) are used as Ti and P sources without surfactant or template assistance. X-ray diffraction results suggest that pure cubic-structured TiP 2 O 7 could be obtained via MW irradiation at 800 W for 5 min. Scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope photographs show that the grain sizes of the samples range from 20 nm to 100 nm and vary with the irradiation time. The effects of different sample preparation conditions on the experimental result are also discussed. The band gap energy of as-synthesized TiP 2 O 7 is determined to be 3.8 eV by UV diffuse reflectance spectral analysis. Luminescence spectral analysis shows that nanocrystal TiP 2 O 7 shows white-light emission at 300 nm.