Preparation of porous titania by sol-gel method using alkylketene dimers as a template

Porous titania (TiO₂) particles were prepared using a sol-gel technique employing Alkylketene Dimers (AKD) as a template. The effects of incremental additions of AKD as a template material on crystal structure, surface and internal morphology, and pore properties were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen adsorption/desorption. The prepared titania had more than one pore size on its surface and internally. Incremental addition of AKD caused an increase in specific surface area. The prepared porous titania with the addition of AKD at 5 wt% exhibited a high specific surface area of 124 m²/g, which is markedly higher than in titania without AKD (53.5 m²/g). To quantitatively evaluate the porous structure, we performed fractal analysis over a wide scale using box-counting, small X-ray scattering (SAXS) and the FHH (Frenkel-Halsey-Hill) method. Porous titania showed fractal properties, both on its surface and internally.