Extended study on the synthesis of amorphous titanium phosphates with tailored sorption properties

Abstract The influence of concentrations of both TiO2 and H2SO4 in the syntheses of amorphous titanium phosphates (TiP) is reported. IR, XRD, TGA, BET and NMR techniques were used to characterise the isolated TiP products. The concentration of sulphuric acid in the initial synthesis plays a major role in the structural diversity and sorption properties of the final ionites. In the primary solutions, Ti(IV) is in monomeric, polymeric and colloidal forms. Upon addition of H3PO4 the presence of monomeric titanium ensures formation of the Ti(HPO4)2 phase. The polymeric Ti(IV) is responsible for formation of the titanium hydroxo-phosphate phase, Ti(OH)2(HPO4), whilst the colloidal form of Ti(IV) appears to have a role in coagulation of a minor Ti(OH)4 phase in an amorphous TiP. It is found that TiP ion-exchange capacities gradually increase with an increase of both TiO2 and H2SO4 concentrations and reach a maximum value of 3.8 mg-eq g− 1 when TiO2 is 70–100 g L− 1 and H2SO4 is 480–560 g L− 1. Analyses of compositional, structural and sorption data allowed 3D correlation diagrams to be built that can facilitate fabrication of TiP with tailored sorption properties.