Abstract

This research work presents the preparation of pure undoped TiO2 and 0.5 wt.% Ni-doped nanoparticles through the sol-gel method using titanium tetra isopropoxide as the titanium source and nickel nitrate hexahydrate as the nickel source. The prepared samples were calcined at 450, 500, 550, 600, 700, and 800°C and analyzed for energy band gap, surface area, particle size, morphology, and purity using UV-Vis DRS, BET, SEM, and EDX, respectively. The UV-Vis DRS analysis revealed an increase in the energy band gap of the samples from 2.2 to 2.88 eV as the calcination temperature increased from 450 to 800°C. Increasing the calcination temperature increased the particle size from 66 to 272 nm, with a reduction in BET surface area from 90.48 to 0.22 m²/g. The pure TiO2 produced at 450°C had a surface area of 108.99 m²/g, a bandgap energy of 3.013 eV, and a particle size of 55.1 nm. SEM analysis revealed the formation of relatively spherical-shaped agglomerated nanoparticles, while the EDX spectroscopic analysis indicated that the TiO2 samples produced in this work had a percentage purity of 55.9 and 46.2% when doped with 0.5% Ni nanoparticles.

Key words:  Ni-dopedTiO2 nano particle, Pure-TiO2, calcination temperature, optical properties.