Low-temperature thermal reduction synthesis of nano-structured TiC via TiO2-template method

Titanium carbide has attracted much attention as a transition metal carbide. This study proposed a novel method for the preparation of different-morphology nano TiC materials by direct carbothermal reduction of TiO2. TiO2 raw materials with different morphologies were used as template and titanium source, and highly reactive CaC2 was served as reducing and carbonizing agents. TiC nano materials with the morphologies of particle, rod and line were successfully prepared at a low temperature of 1000 degrees C for 2 h under vacuum condition, which well inherited the morphologies of TiO2. Moreover, the prepared different-morphology TiC materials showed total electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of higher than 60 dB, demonstrating the potential application of the different-morphology TiC in the field of electromagnetic interference shielding. This study proposes a new method for the TiC preparation under conditions of significantly lowered reduction temperature and time, and provides a new nano TiC formation path which is controlled by the "titanium template generation" mechanism.