Formation of novel mesoporous TiC microspheres through a sol–gel and carbothermal reduction process

Novel mesoporous TiC microspheres with uniform size are synthesized via a sol–gel combined carbothermal reduction process. A microfluidic aerosol nozzle was used to produce droplets which were subsequently dried into gel microspheres under different conditions. The influence of drying temperatures and sol aging time on the diameters of obtained gel microspheres was investigated. The spherical morphology of TiC spheres can be maintained after a two-step heat treatment. Moreover, the TiC microspheres exhibit a high surface area of 267 m2/g and consist of 30–50 nm nano TiC grains and 4.5 nm pores. This unique nanostructure is directly formed from the carbothermal reduction of non-porous and template-free titania/carbon spheres.