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Self-Assembled TiO2 Nanospheres By Using a Biopolymer as a Template and Its Optoelectronic Application
journal contribution
posted on 2012-03-28, 00:00 authored by Saikat Dutta, Astam
K. Patra, Sudipta De, Asim Bhaumik, Basudeb SahaSelf-assembled TiO2 nanoparticulate materials
with well-defined
spherical morphologies were synthesized by using a biopolymer sodium
alginate as a template under different synthesis conditions. Powder
X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques were used to characterize
the TiO2 nanoparticles. N2 sorption analysis
revealed the moderately good surface area (124.0 m2 g–1) and pore volume (0.44 cm3 g–1) of these TiO2 nanoparticles. The biopolymer templating
pathway leads to good-quality self-assembled TiO2 nanoparticles
with dimensions of ca. 10–12 nm within the synthesis temperature
range of 0–60 °C. These porous TiO2 nanomaterials
showed high photogenerated current in the presence of a dye (Rose
Bengal), used as a sensitizer for several photo on/off cycles.