Novel sea-urchin-like rutile microstructures synthesized by the thermal decomposition and oxidation of K2TiF6

C. I. Villavelázquez-Mendoza*, J. L. Rodríguez-Mendoza, R. P. Hodgkins, V. Ibarra-Galván, A. L. Leal-Cruz, A. López-Valdivieso, M. I. Pech-Canul

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sea-urchin-like rutile (su-TiO2) microstructures were successfully synthesized by thermal decomposition and oxidation of a solid precursor, K2TiF6. During the synthesis, precursor temperature (640 C), N2-flow (15 cm3/min) and inner pressure (90 mbar above the atmospheric pressure) remained constant. In order to evaluate the effect of time on the morphology of su-TiO2, five levels (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 h) were considered. The thermal decomposition an oxidation of the K2TiF6 precursor was studied by thermal analyses. It was found that TiO2 was segregated from the matrix, leading to the formation of su-TiO2 during processing. At 640 C, the precursor underwent thermal decomposition and oxidation that produced three different products: K3TiOF5(s), TiO2(s), and F2(g). The su-TiO2 is synthesized only at t=2 h and t=2.5 h, presenting defined spikes at the former (100 μm×100 nm) and rougher structures at the latter (50 μm×10 μm).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)191-193
Number of pages3
JournalMaterials Letters
Volume121
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Apr 2014

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by CONACyT Ciencias Básicas 2010-155444 .

Keywords

  • Ceramics
  • Potassium hexafluorotitanate
  • Rutile
  • Sea-urchin-like microstructure
  • Thermal analysis
  • Thermal decomposition

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