Effect of reaction temperature on CVD-made TiO₂ primary particle diameter

The effect of chemical reaction rate on the generation of titania nanoparticles by chemical vapor deposition using two different precursors was investigated by FTIR, XRD, and microscopy. The size of the primary particle exhibited a minimum with increasing reactor temperature. At lower reaction temperatures, the continuous and gradual formation of titania monomers occurred followed by coagulation and/or surface reaction on the existing particles. In addition, unreacted precursor condensed at the reactor exit. As the reaction temperature increased, the rate of monomer production increased, the dominant characteristics of particle growth were coagulation and sintering. The reactor temperature where the minimum primary particle diameter was produced was different for the two precursors due to differences in chemical reaction rates. Phase composition as well as the primary particle diameter of product titania were affected by the chemical reaction rate. Particle-laden reactor wall enhanced the precursor conversion at low reactor temperatures, where surface reactions compete effectively with gas-phase precursor conversion.