Several methods of chemical synthesis have been developed and used to obtain powder for production of ceramic membranes. Amongst the alternative methods used in laboratory scale, the Pechini method has been used successfully for the preparation of several types of materials. The objective of this work is to synthesize and characterize TiO2 powders obtained by this method, aiming the preparation of ultra-filtration ceramic membranes. The powder has been characterized by gravimetric and differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption by BET, and scanning electron microscopy. The X-ray diffraction of the powders showed the presence of the anatase crystalline phase, with crystallite size 15 nm. The particle size calculated from the surface area was 19 nm and the powder morphology shows the presence of soft agglomerates. These results evidence that the Pechini method is interesting for the production of nanometric TiO2 appropriate for ceramic membranes preparation.
Pechini method; TiO2; nanoparticles
