Temperature effects during Ostwald ripening on structural and bandgap properties of TiO₂ nanoparticles prepared by sonochemical synthesis

Anatase TiO₂ nanocrystalline (6 nm) with BET specific surface area of 300 m²/g and direct bandgap of 3.31 eV were prepared sonochemically and then it was subjected to thermal treatment from 400 to 900 °C for 2 h, in order to produce variable anatase-rutile ratio. Three stages were considered in the samples thermally treated: (i) anatase grains coarsening as a result of heat treatment temperature increasing the structural homogeneity and crystallinity and both phenomena produce a reduction in the specific surface area, (ii) coexistence of two phases (anatase and rutile) separated by a transition region, called an interface, and (iii) process where the rutile grains evolve into a new equilibrium shape without the presence of anatase phase, minimizing the total surface and the grain boundary energies, by mass transport diffusion. In this last stage the rutile phase has the sole function of growth and densification. The structure evolution, morphology and microstructure characteristics were obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). All the stages of phase transformation are subject to thermal effects that stem from the redistribution of energy in the system. The UV-vis absorption spectra show that direct and indirect transitions can take place in the same sample simultaneously. This is attributed to the combined effect of samples with variable anatase-rutile ratio and particle size effect.