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Sol–gel based thermally stable mesoporous TiO2 nanomatrix for fiber optic pH sensing

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Abstract

Thermally stable acid catalyzed mesoporous titania (TiO2) nanomatrices are obtained by sol–gel method for fiber optic pH sensing. These synthesized nanoparticles are annealed at 300 °C, at two time intervals i.e., 1 h and 2 h, characterized with several analytical techniques such as FE-SEM/EDS, AFM, XRD, FTIR, TGA, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. Microscopic analysis shows that synthesized nanoparticles have crack-free, dense and homogeneous surface with low surface roughness (4.4–5.9 nm). EDS mapping confirms the uniform distribution of Ti in all samples. XRD findings revealed the TiO2 anatase phase. BET analysis shows that the mesoporous synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles have surface areas 169 m2/g and average pore diameter 39.2 Å. However, surface area is decreased to 113 and 102 m2/g and average pore diameter increased up to 62.36 and 68.18 Å after 1 h and 2 h heat treatment, respectively. Furthermore, the sensing activity of phenolphthalein (phph) doped mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles/matrix is found to be high at pH 12 without any leaching/cracking.

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Acknowledgements

The authors like to express their gratitude to the Government of Malaysia through grant FRGS vote 03E89 for the financial support in this project. Thanks are also due to UTM through RMC for awarding the Postdoctoral fellowship to the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laser Centre, Ibnu Sina Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, 81310, Malaysia

    Shumaila Islam, Hazri Bakhtiar & Noriah Bidin

  2. Centre of Excellence in Solid State Physics, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Saira Riaz & Shahzad Naseem

Authors
  1. Shumaila Islam
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  2. Hazri Bakhtiar
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  3. Noriah Bidin
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  4. Saira Riaz
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  5. Shahzad Naseem
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Correspondence to Hazri Bakhtiar.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Highlights

  • Mesoporous titania (TiO2) nanomatrices are synthesized by sol–gel method for fiber optic pH sensing.

  • Crack-free, dense and homogeneous surface with low surface roughness (4.4–5.9 nm) is reported. Uniform distribution of Ti is confirmed by EDS mapping.

  • XRD findings revealed the TiO2 anatase phase.

  • High surface area 169 m2/g has capability for good sensing response.

  • Phenolphthalein (phph) doped TiO2 matrix is found to be highly senstive at pH 12 without any leaching/cracking.

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Islam, S., Bakhtiar, H., Bidin, N. et al. Sol–gel based thermally stable mesoporous TiO2 nanomatrix for fiber optic pH sensing. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 86, 42–50 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4604-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4604-3

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