We made comparison of titanium dioxide powders obtained from three syntheses including sol‐gel and precipitation methods as well as using layered (tetramethyl)ammonium titanate as a source of TiO₂. The obtained precursors were subjected to step annealing at elevated temperatures to transform into rutile form. The transformation was determined by Raman measurements in each case. The resulting products were characterised using Raman spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. The main goal of the studies performed was to compare the temperature of the transformation in three titania precursors obtained by different methods of soft chemistry routes and to evaluate dielectric properties of rutile products by means of broadband dielectric spectroscopy. Different factors affecting the electrical properties of calcinated products were discussed. It was found that sol‐gel synthesis provided rutile form after annealing at 850°C with the smallest particles size about 20 nm, the highest value of dielectric permittivity equal to 63.7, and loss tangent equal to 0.051 at MHz frequencies. The other powders transformed to rutile at higher temperature, that is, 900°C, exhibit lower value of dielectric permittivity and had a higher value of particles size. The correlation between the anatase‐rutile transformation temperature and the size of annealed particles was proposed.

We present soft x-ray spectroscopy measurements and electronic structure calculations of ZnTiO${}_3$, a ternary oxide that is related to wurtzite ZnO and rutile TiO${}_2$. The electronic structure of ZnTiO${}_3$ was calculated using a variety of exchange-correlation functionals, and we compare the predicted band gaps of this material obtained from each functional with estimates from our experimental data and optical gaps quoted from the literature. We find that the main hybridizations in the electronic structure of ZnTiO${}_3$ can be predicted from the electronic structures of the two binary oxides. We further find that ZnTiO${}_3$ has weaker O 2p-Zn 3d repulsion than in ZnO, resulting in a relatively lower valence band maximum and consequently a larger band gap. Although we find a significant core hole shift in the measured O $K$ XAS of ZnTiO${}_3$, we provide a simple empirical scheme for estimating the band gap that may prove to be applicable for any $d$ ${}^{10}$-$d$ ${}^0$ ternary oxide, and could be useful in finding a ternary oxide with a band gap tailored to a specific energy.

Effects of the elevated temperature on the structure evolution of the ZnO nanorod array (ZNA) and their hybrid nanocomposite with layered (tetramethyl)ammonium titanate (LTMAT) prepared by the liquid phase deposition were investigated. The vertically oriented ZnO nanorods were deposited on a quartz plate by a chemical bath deposition method and then they were penetrated by the LTMAT using the dip-coating method from the water solution. As a result of such an experimental procedure, an assembly composed of the ZNA with LTMAT was obtained and called hybrid nanocomposite. Since the LTMAT converts to TiO₂ upon subsequent sintering at 350 °C, it can be regarded as TiO₂ precursor for the thermal treatment experiments. The experiments with ZNA and their hybrid nanocomposite at the elevated temperature revealed coalescence of the deposited ZnO nanorods and crystallization of zinc titanate with Zn₂TiO₄ stoichiometry.

This work presents investigations conducted in the field of preparation of a hybrid nanocomposite composed of the vertically aligned ZnO nanorod arrays coated with the layered precursor of TiO 2 (LPT). Effects of the elevated temperature on the structure and morphology evolution of the ZnO nanorod array and their hybrid nanocomposites are described.

A new strategy for preparation of nano-sized barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ) particles was applied by using: layered (tetramethyl)ammonium titanate, barium acetate and tetramethylammonium hydroxide. An addition of barium salt to aqueous layered titanate colloids leads to a precipitation phenomenon by which barium titanate precursor was obtained. The mechanism of this reaction is based on ions exchange which permits to incorporate barium ions into titanate layers. This was confirmed by comparison of broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) data of layered (tetramethyl)ammonium titanate and barium titanate precursor.