Preparation of TiO2 Nanopowders by Plasma Spray and Characterizations

TiO₂ powders with the range of 10-60 nm were prepared successfully by plasma spray in the self-developed plasma spray equipment. The prepared nanopowders were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results showed that the prepared TiO₂ nanopowders were the mixture of anatase phase and rutile phase, the main phase was anatase. There were O, Ti, and C elements in powders; Ti element still existed in tetravalent. The photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange indicated that all methyl orange (20 mg/L) can be degraded fully when the addition of prepared TiO₂ nanopowders and illumination time were 1 g/L and 150 min, respectively.