What Are the Difference Between Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials and Non-nano Titanium Dioxide?

From the perspective of physical properties, nanoscale titanium dioxide has a larger specific surface area and higher surface activity due to its small particle size (usually between 1 and 150 nanometers). This characteristic allows nanotitanium dioxide to exhibit unique properties in terms of optical, electrical and thermal properties. Titanium dioxide nanomaterials have unique physical properties, which are mainly related to their nanoscale characteristics. First, titanium dioxide nanomaterials usually have a hexagonal crystal structure, of which hexagon is the most common morphology. In addition, titanium dioxide nanomaterials exhibit significant quantum size effects and surface effects, which lead to their photochemical, electrical and optical nonlinear properties being completely different from bulk materials.

Titanium dioxide nanomaterials have a large specific surface area, and the number of surface atoms, surface energy and surface tension increase sharply with the decrease of particle size, which makes them different from conventional particles in terms of heat, light, sensitive properties and surface stability. For example, nanoscale titanium dioxide particles exhibit excellent adsorption capacity and quasi-one-dimensional structural characteristics due to their miniaturized size.

In terms of optical properties, titanium dioxide nanomaterials usually behave as wide-bandgap semiconductor materials. The bandgap widths of the anatase phase, rutile phase and brookite phase are 3.2 eV, 3.02 eV and 2.96 eV respectively. This wide bandgap characteristic makes titanium dioxide nanomaterials have potential application value in fields such as photocatalysis.

In addition, titanium dioxide nanomaterials also exhibit high dielectric constant and dielectric loss characteristics, especially the dielectric constant is very large at low frequencies, which is related to the lattice distortion and defects existing within it.

These unique physical properties make titanium dioxide nanomaterials have broad application prospects in many fields such as environmental governance, new energy, and biomedicine.

In contrast, non-nano titanium dioxide is usually composed of larger particles that are held together by van der Waals forces to form clumps or aggregates. Non-nano titanium dioxide is commonly used in pigments, coatings and plastics in industrial applications, relying primarily on its hiding power and opacity.

From the perspective of chemical properties, nanoscale titanium dioxide exhibits stronger chemical activity and higher catalytic efficiency due to its quantum size effect. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanomaterials have a variety of chemical properties, which make them promising for use in many fields. First of all, titanium dioxide nanomaterials have high chemical and thermal stability and are insoluble in water, organic acids and weak inorganic acids, but soluble in concentrated sulfuric acid, alkali and hydrofluoric acid. In addition, titanium dioxide is an acidic amphoteric oxide that hardly reacts with other elements and compounds at room temperature, and has no effect on oxygen, ammonia, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, etc.

Titanium dioxide nanomaterials also exhibit super-hydrophilicity and non-migration, which makes them widely used in fields such as UV-resistant materials, textiles, photocatalysts, self-cleaning glass, sunscreen, coatings, inks, and food packaging materials. Under the action of light, especially under ultraviolet irradiation, anatase titanium dioxide exhibits significant photochemical activity and can carry out continuous oxidation-reduction reactions, so it has important application value in the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants.

In addition, the crystal form of titanium dioxide nanomaterials has a significant impact on their properties. There are two main crystal forms of titanium dioxide: anatase and rutile. The anatase type is superior to the rutile type in photocatalytic ability, and the anatase phase is more likely to be selected at the nanoscale. This property enables titanium dioxide nanomaterials to exhibit higher efficiency in photocatalytic applications.

Titanium dioxide nanomaterials have shown great application potential in many fields due to their high chemical stability, thermal stability, super hydrophilicity and excellent photocatalytic properties.

Non-nano titanium dioxide, on the other hand, relies more on its physical covering effect rather than its chemical reaction ability.

In terms of application fields, nanoscale titanium dioxide is widely used in environmental management, medical implants, photocatalytic materials and other fields due to its unique physical and chemical properties. For example, nano-titanium dioxide can be used in air purification and water treatment to decompose harmful substances through photocatalysis. Non-nano titanium dioxide is more used in traditional industrial applications, such as coatings, plastics and paper.

Additionally, cost is an important differentiator. Nanoscale titanium dioxide is usually more expensive due to its complex preparation process and high demand. Non-nano titanium dioxide is more economical and affordable in the market due to its lower production cost.

There are significant differences in physical properties, chemical properties, and application fields between titanium dioxide nanomaterials and non-nano titanium dioxide. These differences determine their advantages and limitations in different application scenarios.