Temperature effect on the nucleation and growth of TiO₂ colloidal nanoparticles

Abstract

The nucleation and growth of sol-gel derived TiO₂ colloidal nanoparticles have been studied using <em>experiment and theory as well</em>. In this study, the temperature effect on the formation of TiO₂ nanoparticles was discussed and some effective parameters such as the supply rate of solute (Q₀), the mean volumic growth rate of stable nuclei during the nucleation period (u), the diffusion coefficient of [Ti]⁺⁴ ions and the nucleus size were determined. The formation of TiO₂ nanoparticles in three different temperatures (60, 70 and 80°C) was studied. The obtained results showed that the process temperature has a considerable impact on the nucleation and growth of TiO₂nanoparticles. It can be concluded that increasing the temperature leads to a decrease of the supersaturation and an increase of the nucleus size, supply rate of monomer, nanoparticles density and growth rate as evident from LaMer diagram.