Sol-gel Synthesis and Characterization of Lanthanide Modified TiO2-MCM-41 Mesoporous Materials

In this work lanthanide modified TiO₂-MCM-41 materials have been synthesized by simple sol- gel method. The resultant materials were well characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectroscopy, BET analysis, and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that the synthesized materials consist of anatase phase TiO₂. When Ti-MCM-41 was modified by europium, terbium, lanthanum ions there occurs a reduction in crystallinity and crystallite size of anatase TiO₂. The FT-IR spectra TiO₂-MCM-41 showed the presence of Ti-OH, Ti-O-Si and Ti-O bonds. With the addition of lanthanide species several vibrations of TiO₂-MCM-41 have been suppressed. The BET analysis gives information about the surface area and pore size distribution of the materials. The surface area of the TiO₂-MCM-41 has been reduced after incorporation with lanthanide species and is prominent in Tb-TiO₂- MCM-41. The morphology of the materials was clearly investigated using TEM analysis. This study will be helpful for understanding the effect of lanthanide ions on the textural properties of the TiO₂-MCM 41 nanomaterials.