Surface chemical structure of titania-silica nanocomposite powder

Titania-silica （TS） nanocomposite powder with three different composite structures, containing 10-30 mol% SiO2 in each structure, have been prepared by sol-gel processes. The surface characteristics of these titania-silica samples have been investigated by X-ray photo-emission spectroscopy （XPS） and high resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM）. The study for all TS oxides annealed at 773 and 1173 K showed： an abnormal surface enrichment in Si increased with increasing annealing temperature; the Ti^3＋, Ti^2＋, Si^3＋ and Si^2＋ oxides coexisted with Ti^4＋ and Si^4＋ oxides, and the contents of these Ti/Si suboxides increased with increasing SiO2 content and annealing temperature; there was a layer rich in O on the topmost surface and the excess O could be attributed to the chem-adsorption of H2O; different composite structures could lead to different contents of Ti/Si suboxides. These results indicated that the surface of TS oxide powder derived by sol-gel process was a double layer with enriched O first and then SiOx/TiOy（x, y〈2）. Ti/Si suboxides could result from the thermal diffusion of Ti^4＋ and Si^4＋, which might be induced by the strong interaction between Ti^4＋ and Si^4＋.