X-ray and neutron small-angle scattering. Investigation of nanophase vanadium-titanium oxide particles

Abstract Some samples of the vanadium-titanium oxide catalyst, obtained both by a laser-induced process (pure TiO2 and Ti1−xVxO2) and by chemical impregnation of TiO2 with V2O5 have been investigated by means of small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) in different conditions: as cast and calcined for different times. Particle size distributions have been obtained using a computer code originally developed for SANS. The obtained results are in good agreement and they also agree with previously reported data on similar compounds, based on a Fourier analysis of the X-ray diffraction pattern. The transmission electron microscopy results on the same compounds are also discussed, in comparison to SAXS and SANS.