Titanium dioxide synthesized using titanium chloride: Size effect study using Raman and Photoluminescence

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocrystals were prepared by wet chemical method and characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman scattering (RS) and photoluminescence (PL). The X-ray diffraction shows the formation of nanocrytalline TiO2 of average sizes 7 nm and 15 nm for two samples. The x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman scattering shows that the TiO2 nanocrystals has anatase crystal structure for both samples. The PL intensity of the smaller particle is more, which has been attributed to defects and particle size variation. A modified phonon confinement model with the inclusion of size distribution, a new confinement function for TiO2 nanocrystals and averaged dispersion curves for most dispersion phonon branch (G-X direction) has been used to interpret the size variation of Raman spectra. The obtained Raman peak shift and FWHM agree will the experimental data. Our observations suggest that phonon confinement effects are responsible for a significant shift and broadening for the Raman peaks.