Synthesis of Rutile Titanium Dioxide Whiskers by Flux Method

Abstract

Rutile titanium dioxide whiskers with diameter around 2μm and length up to 45μm have been successfully synthesized via a facile flux method, using anatase titanium dioxide as raw material and a mixture of ZnSO47H2O and Na2SO4 as flux. The products were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microcopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). It turned out that the calcined temperature and the type of flux addition affected the crystal phase and morphology of the final product greatly. The results showed that rutile titanium dioxide whiskers obtained at 850 °C for 4 hours had the most uniform morphology. The possible growth mechanism was briefly discussed.