Study of the anatase-rutile transformation in TiO₂ powders obtained by laser-induced synthesis

Powder samples of pure anatase were produced using laser-induced pyrolysis of titanium alkoxides, and the catalysts were prepared using conventional wet impregnation methods. The diffraction patterns were interpreted in microstructural terms by Fourier analysis of their peak profiles. The transition temperature for the anatase-rutile transition in these catalysts was found between 500° and 550 °C. For the reflections of the anatase phase, a decrease of their Bragg (2θ) positions was observed up to 550 °C when the presence of the rutile phase becomes important. The response of the anatase structure to the thermal treatment is anisotropic with the c-axis showing the highest sensitivity to the observed expansion of the lattice. The rutile Bragg reflections are sharper than those of the anatase phase. The corresponding microstructural parameters indicate that, in all cases, the transformation is accompanied by an increase of the crystallites and/or of the lattice perfection. The evolution of these parameters is influenced by the presence of vanadium. The V-treated surface layer must be particularly distorted and apparently act as a restraint to perfecting by thermal treatments. Only the transition to rutile is capable of overcoming that restraint by allowing crystallite growth at the expense of the smaller and distorted anatase crystallites.