Thermal analysis methods in the characterization of photocatalytic titania precursors

A new method for the preparation of titania photocatalyst was proposed. Precursors of the photoactive titania were prepared from TiOSO4·nH2O solution by precipitation with ammonia and addition of H2O2 or HNO3, respectively. Methods of TG, DTA, ETA, EGA/MS detection and FTIR were used to characterize the thermal degradation of the titania precursor and to determine the optimal temperature to obtain the photoactive titania. ETA made it possible to characterize the microstructure development of the samples in the heating conditions.