Titanium Carbide Nanocrystals Synthesized from a Metatitanic Acid-Sucrose Precursor via a Carbothermal Reduction

Abstract

A TiC powder is synthesized from a micron-sized mesoporous metatitanic acid-sucrose precursor (precursor M) by a carbothermal reduction process. Control specimens are also prepared using a nanosized TiO2-sucrose precursor (precursor T) with a higher cost. When synthesized at 1500°C for 2 h in flowing Ar, the characteristics of the synthesized TiC from precursor M are similar to those of the counterpart from precursor T in terms of the crystal size (58.5 versus 57.4 nm), oxygen content (0.22 wt% versus 0.25 wt%), and representative sizes of mesopores: approximately 2.5 and 19.7–25.0 nm in both specimens. The most salient differences of the two specimens are found in the TiC from precursor M demonstrating (i) a higher crystallinity based on the distinctive doublet peaks in the high-two-theta XRD regime and (ii) a lower specific surface area (79.4 versus 94.8 m2/g) with a smaller specific pore volume (0.1 versus 0.2 cm3/g) than the counterpart from precursor T.