Highly Ordered Nanoporous Titania Synthesis

We present a unique system for the synthesis of highly ordered nanoporous Titania in a template system of Iso-octane/AOT (0.8M)/Lecithin (0.4M). Titanium Iso-propoxide (TIP), soluble in the organic phase is used as the Titania precursor. TIP undergoes hydrolysis and condensation to form titanium dioxide upon contact with water. Two different schemes were used for the synthesis, where the order of addition of the constituent materials was varied. The order of addition had a great impact on the final microstructure of the material formed. We were successfully able to synthesize highly organized structures with hexagonal arrangement of the pores. The pore size was controlled by the water content in the system (W₀). The ratio of Iso-octane:TIP had an effect on the pore size and pore wall thickness. These samples were characterized using thin-section Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, BET Surface Area Analysis and X-Ray diffraction.