Preparation of highly water-dispersible titanium-silicon binary oxide materials by sol-gel method

The preparation of highly water-dispersible titanium-silicon binary oxide materials was performed by the following two-stage sol-gel reactions. First, the mixture of titanium tetraisopropoxide and 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane was stirred in a mixed solvent of isopropyl alcohol and 0.5 mol/L methanolic hydrochloric acid at room temperature, followed by heating in an open system until the solvent was evaporated. Then, the aqueous solution obtained by adding water to the resulting product was heated in the open system until the water was completely reevaporated. The resulting product was dispersed well in water, and its aqueous dispersion was highly transparent and cut off UV light, confirmed by UV-Vis measurements. The solid product obtained by lyophilization of its aqueous dispersion was redispersed in water. The average particle size of the product was assessed to be < 10 nm by dynamic light scattering (DLS) in water and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements, indicating that the product was a water-dispersible spherical nanoparticle. It was assumed that the water-dispersible property of the product probably originated from the TiO2/SiO1.5(CH2)3NH3 x Cl core/shell structure. In addition, highly transparent films can be prepared from the aqueous dispersion of the product, and these films also cut off the UV light, evaluated by UV-Vis measurements.