Brookite

Abstract: To understand the impact of particle size on phase stability and phase transformation during growth of nanocrystalline aggregates we conducted experiments using titania (TiO2) samples consisting of nanocrystalline anatase (46.7 wt %, 5.1 nm) and brookite (53.3 wt %, 8.1 nm). Reactions were studied isochronally at reaction times of 2 h in the temperature range 598−1023 K and isothermally at 723, 853, and 973 K by X-ray diffraction (XRD). A numerical deconvolution method was developed to separate overlapping XRD peaks, and an analytical method for determining phase contents of anatase, brookite, and rutile from XRD data was established. Results show that, in contrast to previous studies, anatase in our samples transforms to brookite and/or rutile before brookite transforms to rutile. Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses further support this conclusion. For general titania samples, the transformation sequence among anatase and brookite depends on the initial particle sizes of anatase and brookite, since partic...

Abstract: In general, anatase TiO2 exhibits higher photocatalytic activities than rutile TiO2. However, the reasons for the differences in photocatalytic activity between anatase and rutile are still being debated. In this work, the band structure, density of states, and effective mass of photogenerated charge carriers for anatase, rutile and brookite TiO2 are investigated by the first-principle density functional theory calculation. The results indicate that anatase appears to be an indirect band gap semiconductor, while rutile and brookite belong to the direct band gap semiconductor category. Indirect band gap anatase exhibits a longer lifetime of photoexcited electrons and holes than direct band gap rutile and brookite because the direct transitions of photogenerated electrons from the conduction band (CB) to valence band (VB) of anatase TiO2 is impossible. Furthermore, anatase has the lightest average effective mass of photogenerated electrons and holes as compared to rutile and brookite. The lightest effective mass suggests the fastest migration of photogenerated electrons and holes from the interior to surface of anatase TiO2 particle, thus resulting in the lowest recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers within anatase TiO2. Therefore, it is not surprising that anatase usually shows a higher photocatalytic activity than rutile and brookite. This investigation will provide some new insight into understanding the difference of photocatalytic activity among anatase, rutile and brookite.

Abstract: We report on the synthesis of phase-pure TiO2 nanoparticles in anatase, rutile and brookite structures, using amorphous titania as a common starting material. Phase formation was achieved by hydrothermal treatment at elevated temperatures with the appropriate reactants. Anatase nanoparticles were obtained using acetic acid, while phase-pure rutile and brookite nanoparticles were obtained with hydrochloric acid at a different concentration. The nanomaterials were characterized using x-ray diffraction, UV–visible reflectance spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. We propose that anatase formation is dominated by surface energy effects, and that rutile and brookite formation follows a dissolution–precipitation mechanism, where chains of sixfold-coordinated titanium complexes arrange into different crystal structures depending on the reactant chemistry. The particle growth kinetics under hydrothermal conditions are determined by coarsening and aggregation–recrystallization processes, allowing control over the average nanoparticle size.

Abstract: Using the self-consistent orthogonalized linear-combination-of-atomic-orbitals method in the local-density approximation, the electronic structure and the optical properties of three phases of titanium dioxide have been studied. For rutile, the calculated band structure, equilibrium lattice constant, and bulk modulus are in good agreement with other recent calculations and with experimental data. The results on the ground-state properties of anatase and brookite are reported. Compared with the rutile phase, anatase has similar ground-state properties except for a larger band gap, whereas brookite has relatively smaller bulk modulus. The optical properties of these three phases are also calculated using the band-structure results and compared with the available measurements. For the rutile phase, the anisotropic properties of the dielectric function are in good agreement with the reflectance spectroscopy. For the anatase phase, there are very limited experimental optical data for comparison. For the brookite phase, no experimental data are available. Our calculations show subtle differences in the optical properties of these three phases.