Variation of the rutile and anatase phase using a high energy planetary mill in a carbon dioxide atmosphere

Abstract

Nowadays, the ball milling technique has become one of the most important owing to its ease of getting the combination of different materials in a short time thus obtaining nanostructures of different types. In the present work, the temporal evolution of the phase change of titanium dioxide from anatase to rutile is shown through the ball milling technique. The milling time was varied from 1 to 9 hours at a carbon dioxide atmosphere controlled at a pressure of 34.47 KPa and a ratio of 1:10 (gram of material: gram of balls). The results were analyzed through X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy. A change from anatase to rutile of the titanium dioxide structure is shown for each range of the milling time. In the same way, through scanning electron microscopy, a 90% reduction in the initial size was shown, thus, getting nanostructures of approximately 20 nm.