Ti (IV) complexes with some diphenols as precursors for TiO2 nano-sized catalysts

In this paper, synthesis of 4 phenol-titanium (IV) complexes (phenol: Salicylate, 3,4-Dihydroxy-3-cyclobutene-1,2-dione, Pyridine-2,3-diol and Catechol) were studied, then synthesizing TiO2 by the controlling thermal decomposition of the obtained complexes was studied at low temperature. The pure TiO2 nanoparticles were obtained when the complexes were heat-treated at different temperatures based on their ligands. Characterization of the complexes was carried out by FT-IR spectroscopy within 400–4000 cm−1, UV-Vis spectroscopy in 200–800 nm range, the method of atomic emission with inductively coupled plasma and the micro-method for analyzing a metal and CHN analysis, respectively. Quantum-chemical model of the titanium – phenol complexes was also studied to determine the structure and spectral properties of the isolated titanium complexes. Furthermore, thermal analysing was used to obtain DTA curves of TiO2 nanoparticle, X-ray diffraction (XRD) was analyzed to specify phase and size of TiO2, energy band gap of the nanoparticles were obtained by UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectrometer, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) image accompanied EDAX analyzing were used to investigate morphology and types of the elements and their amount, respectively. According to the result, obtained TiO2 nanoparticles are beneficial to be used as catalysts to degrade harmful organic substances under UV light. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.