New kinetic models for the crystallization of anatase nanoparticles from amorphous titania (TiO2)

In this article, amorphous Titania (TiO₂) nanoparticles were crystallized both in a solution environment and by a dry heat treatment using new kinetic models with the capabilities of more accurately predicting the polymorphic transformation behavior of TiO₂. In these models, both the nucleation and growth processes were simultaneously taken into account. The results were indicative of the Surface Nucleation (SN) of anatase occurring in a hydrothermal treatment process through the phase transformation. Also, both the surface and interface nucleation processes were found to play significant roles in the phase transformation kinetics when dealing with dry heat treatments at low temperatures. The proposed models were advantageous to any other published models, in which the nucleation mechanisms had been incorporated with suitable growth expressions. In other words, no experimental data of a particle size were required to investigate the phase transformation kinetics of TiO₂ nanoparticles in the models presented in this article.