Synthesis and characterization of potassium hexatitanate using boric acid as the flux

In this study, the viability of obtaining potassium hexatitanate fibers (K2Ti6O13) via the flux method using boric acid subjected to different melting temperatures and cooling media (air or water) was investigated. According to the results, the amount of used flux enabled the production of a liquid phase in which the TiO2 and K2O reacted to form K2Ti6O13 with various morphologies. The melting temperature did not significantly influence the microstructure presented by the materials; however, an amorphous phase with small crystals was obtained when molten mixtures were poured into water in comparison with the samples cooled with air. With the goal of obtaining homogeneous fibers, the samples with lower crystallinity (poured into water) were heated at 900, 950 and 1000 degrees C. Fibers were produced with sizes varying from 12 to 35 mu m in length and 0.51-0.90 mu m in diameter as well as with a large specific surface area and a band gap value of 3.3 eV; these characteristics make these fibers promising for use as photocatalysts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.