Method of making rutile titanium dioxide microspheres containing elongated TiO

1. A method for preparing rutile TiO 2 particles which comprise generally spherical structures in the range of from 1 to 2 microns in diameter, said structures being aggregates of elongated TiO 2 crystallites, said method comprising:

(a) forming an aqueous solution of a soluble titanium compound at a titanium concentration of from 0.5 to 1.0 moles per liter;

(b) introducing a morphology controlling agent selected from the group consisting of an α-hydroxy carboxylic acid of the formula R—CH(OH)COOH, an α-hydroxy carboxamide of the formula R—CH(OH)CONH 2 or an α-amino acid of the formula R—CH(NH 2 )COOH, wherein R is an alkane, alkene, alkyne, arene, or cycloalkane group having 4 or fewer carbon atoms, into the solution at an acid- or carboxamide-to-titanium molar ratio of from 0.02 to 0.2 while simultaneously heating the solution to a temperature in the range of from 75° C. to 80° C. with constant stirring;

(c) maintaining the stirred solution at a temperature in the range of from 75° C. to 80° C. for a period of from one to 3 hours;

(d) elevating the temperature of the stirred solution to a value of from 100° C. to the refluxing temperature and maintaining said temperature for a period of from 2 hours to 4 hours to form a reaction product;

(e) optionally neutralizing the stirred solution which results from step (d);

(f) cooling the stirred solution to room or ambient temperature; and

(h) separating and drying the reaction product.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said elongated TiO 2 crystallites have a length of from 20 nm to 50 nm and a thickness of from 3 nm to 5 nm.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein one of the ends from each of said elongated TiO 2 crystallites assemble into a cluster whereby the opposite ends of each of said crystallites extend outwardly and terminate at an angle normal to the outer surface forming said spherical structure.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said morphology controlling agent is selected from lactic acid (CH 3 CH(OH)COOH); 2-hydroxybutyric acid (C 2 H 5 CH(OH)COOH); 2-hydroxypentanoic acid (C 3 H 7 CH(OH)COOH); 2-Hydroxyhexanoic acid (C 4 H 9 CH(OH)COOH); 2-Hydroxyisocaproic acid (CH 3 CH(CH 3 )CH 2 CH(OH)COOH); alanine (CH 3 CH(NH 2 )COOH); valine (CH 3 CH(CH 3 )CH(NH 2 )COOH); norvaline (C 3 H 7 CH(NH 2 )COOH); isoleucine (C 2 H 5 CH(CH 3 )CH(NH 2 )COOH); leucine (CH 3 CH(CH 3 )CH 2 CH(NH 2 )COOH); and norleucine (C 4 H 9 CH(NH 2 )COOH) and mixtures thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said soluble titanium compound is selected from titanium oxychloride (TiOCl 2 ), titanium oxybromide (TiOBr 2 ), titanium oxyiodide (TiOI 2 ), titanium oxynitrate (TiO(NO 3 ) 2 ), titanium trichloride (TiCl 3 ), titanium tribromide (TiBr 3 ), titanium oxalate (Ti 2 (C 2 O 4 ) 3 ), potassium hexafluorotitanate (K 2 TiF 6 ), ammonium hexafluorotitanate ((NH 4 ) 2 TiF 6 ), potassium titanyloxolate (K 2 TiO(C 2 O 4 ) 2 ), ammonium titanyloxolate ((NH 4 ) 2 TiO(C 2 O 4 ) 2 ), titanium bis(ammonium lactate) dihydroxide ([CH 3 CH(O)COONH 4 ] 2 Ti(OH) 2 ) and mixtures thereof.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said soluble titanium compound is selected from titanium oxychloride (TiOCl 2 ), titanium oxybromide (TiOBr 2 ), titanium oxyiodide (TiOI 2 ), titanium oxynitrate (TiO(NO 3 ) 2 ), titanium trichloride (TiCl 3 ), titanium tribromide (TiBr 3 ), titanium oxalate (Ti 2 (C 2 O 4 ) 3 ), potassium hexafluorotitanate (K 2 TiF 6 ), ammonium hexafluorotitanate ((NH 4 ) 2 TiF 6 ), potassium titanyloxolate (K 2 TiO(C 2 O 4 ) 2 ), ammonium titanyloxolate ((NH 4 ) 2 TiO(C 2 O 4 ) 2 ), titanium bis(ammonium lactate) dihydroxide ([CH 3 CH(O)COONH 4 ] 2 Ti(OH) 2 ) and mixtures thereof.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said morphology controlling agent is lactic acid (CH 3 CH(OH)COOH), and said soluble titanium compound is titanium oxychloride (TiOCl 2 ).