Morphology control of rutile TiO with tunable bandgap by preformed β-FeOOH nanoparticles.

Rutile TiO are widely used for applications of coatings, cosmetics, photoelectric devices and so on. However, effective control of well-defined morphology, size and composition of rutile TiO nanoparticles from agglomeration has always been a challenge. A new synthesis strategy was proposed to prepare rutile TiO with controllable morphology varied from flower-like structures to single-separated nanorods. The β-FeOOH nanoparticles were generated by the hydrolysis of FeCl solution and could prevent the aggregation of TiO nanocrystals at early stages of the reaction; thus, could control the morphology of rutile nanoparticles. The morphology of rutile TiO nanoparticles could be controllably regulated from flower-like structures to individually separated nanorods. Meanwhile, the preformed β-FeOOH also played a role of dopant. Fe ions were substitutionally doped into the bulk lattice of TiO nanocrystals and reduced the bandgap, which extended the solar radiation absorption range of rutile TiO. The prepared TiO may be suitable for novel UV-blue light shielding agents and many other applications in photoelectric devices, photocatalysis, and so on due to its small size, unprecedented discrete rod-like structure and unique UV-vis light permeability.