Aerosol-assisted Processing of Dopamine-TiO2 Colloidal Solution

Abstract

Set of colloidal TiO2 nanoparticles solutions (TiO2 NPs) were surface modified with the different quantities of dopamine (DA) and then are used as precursors for the synthesis of DA modified submicronic TiO2 particles (DA-TiO2 SPs). Low temperature (150 oC) aerosol-assisted route (spray drying) is used for the generation of the un-agglomerated spherical particles with the mean size of 430 nm that are composited from much smaller crystalline sub-units. Detailed structural and morphological characterization of DA-TiO2 NPs and SPs were performed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) analysis, scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM) and laser particle size (LPS) analysis. Particles surface structure and optical properties were followed using FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Observed optical characteristics of both DA-TiO2 NPs and DA-TiO2 SPs expose narrowing of effective band gap for the same value of 1.3 eV implicating the preservation of colloidal nanoparticles characteristics in submicronic powders.