Phase transformation and grain growth of doped nanosized titania

The influence of altervalent cation doping of TiO2 on its phase transition and grain growth has been investigated. It is shown that dopants like Fe3+, Si4+, V5+, Ru3+ and Ni2+ affect the phase transition temperature of the titania host, and that significant variation is observed for silicon doping. Iron titanium oxide and nickel titanium oxide phases were found in the iron-doped and nickel-doped system, respectively, at elevated calcination temperatures, while other doped systems only show the modifications of anatase and rutile at the observed range of calcination temperature and dopant content. Compared with the pure TiO2, grain growth is arrested for the iron-doped and silicon-doped systems, and this tendency is especially distinct in the silicon-doped system.