Dopants for synthesis of stable bimodally porous titania

Bimodally porous titania powders doped with alumina, zirconia, and silica were made by wet precipitation from organometallic precursors (for Al/Ti=0.05-0.4, and Zr/Ti=Si/Ti=0.1). Doping retards not only the anatase-to-rutile phase transformation, but also the crystallite growth of titania. So it was used to control the powder phase composition and pore structure at high temperatures. The extent of the retarding effect on pore structure and phase transformation increased with increasing alumina concentration. The effectiveness of these dopants follows the order of: zirconia>silica>alumina. The dopants also reduce the loss of surface area of the calcined powders by decreasing the sintering and phase transformation rates. All powders exhibited bimodal pore size distributions (PSD) with fine intra-particle pores (1–4 nm) and larger inter-particle pores (10–120 nm). However, the intra-particle pores of the pure titania disappeared at 600°C, while the bimodal PSD of doped titania was maintained up to 750°C.