A facile one-step route to nanocrystalline TiB2 powders

Nanocrystalline titanium diboride (TiB2) has been prepared by the reaction of TiCl4 with NaBH4 in the temperature range of 500–700 °C in an autoclave. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns can be indexed as hexagonal TiB2 with the lattice constants of a=3.032 and c=3.229 Å. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image shows particle morphology, with average size of 15 nm for the powder obtained at 600 °C. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern confirms the prepared hexagonal TiB2. The oxidation behavior of TiB2 is studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA).