Synthesis of monodisperse mesoporous titania beads with controllable diameter, high surface areas, and variable pore diameters (14-23 nm)

A combined sol-gel and solvothermal process in the presence of hexadecylamine (HDA) as a structure-directing agent was used to prepare monodisperse mesoporous anatase titania beads with high surface areas and tunable pore size and grain diameter. The method employed in the study demonstrated that simultaneous control of the physical properties, including specific surface area, mesoporosity, crystallinity, morphology, and monodispersity, of the titania materials could be accomplished by a facile sol-gel synthesis and solvothermal process.