Titanium Oxide

One white powder, two landmark discoveries. When Fujishima and Honda split water on TiO₂ electrodes in 1972, they launched the field of photocatalysis; when Grätzel built his dye cell around mesoporous TiO₂ in 1991, he opened the era of third-generation photovoltaics. Today the same material coats self-cleaning glass, shuttles electrons in record perovskite cells, and stores lithium in next-generation anodes.

Eata Energy supplies titanium oxide in every phase and form these applications consume: anatase, rutile, brookite and TiO₂(B) powders from micron to nano, P25-type mixed-phase photocatalysts, screen-printing pastes for solar cells, sputtering targets, and Verneuil-grown rutile single crystals — each lot delivered with phase analysis and full chemical certification.

High-purity anatase TiO₂ powder from Eata Energy

What Is Titanium Oxide?

Titanium oxide (TiO₂, titania) is an n-type semiconductor that nature crystallizes in several distinct phases, each with its own engineering personality. Anatase (3.2 eV) is the photocatalytic workhorse; rutile (3.0 eV) is the thermodynamically stable form — anatase converts to it irreversibly above about 750 °C — and owns the optical records, with a refractive index up to 2.9 and the strongest birefringence of any natural dielectric crystal. Brookite and the metastable bronze phase TiO₂(B) complete the family, the latter prized for fast lithium storage. By volume, most of the world's TiO₂ still goes into white pigment, but it is the electronic and photonic uses that are growing fastest.

TiO₂ Grades We Supply

Phase content is verified by XRD on every lot; custom anatase:rutile ratios available.

Key Properties of Titanium Oxide

• Born photocatalyst — its band edges straddle the redox potentials of water, so UV illumination generates electron–hole pairs that mineralize organics, kill microbes and split water; combined with light-induced superhydrophilicity, this is the basis of self-cleaning glass and facades.
• Solar-cell backbone — mesoporous anatase is the standard photoanode of dye-sensitized cells (≈13% record) and the most widely used electron transport layer in perovskite photovoltaics, thanks to a favorable conduction-band position, hole-blocking behavior and processing maturity.
• Extreme refractive power — rutile reaches n = 2.6–2.9 with Δn = 0.26 birefringence, roughly 29 times that of quartz; ground to pigment it is the most effective white opacifier known, and as a thin film it builds high-index optical stacks.
• Safe lithium storage — anatase and TiO₂(B) insert lithium at 1.75–2.0 V vs Li⁺/Li, far above plating potentials, so titania anodes cannot grow dendrites; nanostructured versions sustain 10C rates and thousands of cycles.
• High-k dielectric — rutile's dielectric constant runs from ≈90 to ≈180 depending on crystal orientation, feeding research into high-density capacitors and gate dielectrics.
• Chemical immunity — annealed TiO₂ resists nearly all acids and bases, carries no toxicity concerns, and endures decades of outdoor exposure as pigment and coating.

Available Forms

• Powders — anatase, rutile, brookite and TiO₂(B), micron grades to 10 nm nanopowders, 3N–4N purity
• Mixed-phase photocatalysts — P25-type ≈80/20 anatase/rutile and custom ratios, high-BET
• Screen-printing pastes — transparent and scattering formulations for DSSC photoanodes and perovskite mesoporous ETLs
• Nanostructures — hydrothermal nanotubes, nanowires and nanorods for battery and catalysis research
• Sputtering targets — dense TiO₂ and substoichiometric TiOₓ discs, bonded to backing plates
• Single crystals — Verneuil-grown rutile boules, oriented substrates and polished prisms

Applications of Titanium Oxide

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The Grätzel cell turned TiO₂ into a solar material in 1991, and the architecture has changed little since: a mesoporous anatase film a few micrometers thick, soaked with dye, working against an iodide electrolyte and a platinum counter electrode. Efficiencies around 13% at laboratory scale — plus low materials cost, easy fabrication and tolerance of diffuse indoor light — keep DSSCs relevant for building-integrated and portable photovoltaics. Cell performance lives and dies with the photoanode paste: particle size, necking and surface chemistry of the TiO₂ decide how many electrons survive the trip out, which is why our pastes are formulated and fired to tightly controlled recipes.

A laboratory dye-sensitized solar cell built on a mesoporous TiO₂ photoanode

Perovskite Photovoltaics

Perovskite cells sprinted from 3.8% in 2009 past 25% certified, and TiO₂ rode the entire way as the field's standard electron transport layer. In the classic n-i-p stack, a compact TiO₂ film blocks holes while a mesoporous TiO₂ scaffold anchors the perovskite and extracts electrons; the highest-efficiency mesoscopic designs still rely on this pairing. TiO₂ wins on chemical and thermal stability, conduction-band alignment and manufacturing maturity — spin coating, spray pyrolysis, ALD and screen printing all work. We supply the nanoparticle pastes and precursor sols these layers are printed and coated from, with batch consistency your device statistics will notice.

Perovskite solar cell testing — TiO₂ is the field's standard electron transport layer

Photocatalysis and Self-Cleaning Surfaces

Half a century after the Honda–Fujishima effect, photocatalysis is TiO₂'s most visible superpower. Under UV, anatase generates oxidizing radicals that strip organic films, kill bacteria and decompose pollutants; under the same light its surface turns superhydrophilic, so rain sheets off dirt instead of beading. The result is commercial reality: self-cleaning architectural glass, air-purifying coatings, water-treatment reactors and antibacterial ceramics. Mixed-phase P25-type powders — about 80% anatase, 20% rutile — remain the research benchmark, and our photocatalysis grades are specified by BET area, phase ratio and hydroxyl content rather than by pigmentary brightness.

Photocatalytic water treatment driven by suspended TiO₂ under illumination

Batteries and Energy Storage

Titania anodes trade graphite's capacity for absolute safety and speed. Lithium enters anatase at 1.75 V — a potential where lithium plating and electrolyte decomposition simply do not happen — giving 168 mAh/g in practice against a 335 mAh/g theoretical ceiling, with TiO₂(B) and nanotubular morphologies pushing far beyond it. Hydrothermal nanotube arrays hold more than 150 mAh/g after 100 cycles at 10C, and doped TiO₂(B)/anatase assemblies reach 160 mAh/g at 12 A/g. The same chemistry inserts sodium, making anatase a credible anode for sodium-ion cells. For grid storage, power tools and fast-charge stations where cycle life outranks energy density, titania is the pragmatic choice.

Hydrothermally grown TiO₂ nanotube arrays for high-rate battery anodes

Optical Coatings, Crystals and Dielectrics

Rutile's optical numbers are extreme: refractive index up to 2.9, birefringence Δn = 0.26, Kerr nonlinearity thirty times silica's, and transparency from 0.5 to 4.5 μm. Verneuil-grown single crystals become spectral prisms, optical isolators and beam splitters that outlast YVO₄ in harsh environments. In thin-film form, sputtered TiO₂ is the standard high-index partner in interference filters and antireflection stacks — including the AR coatings on silicon solar cells — while its ≈90–180 dielectric constant keeps it on the shortlist for high-k capacitor research.

Verneuil-grown rutile single crystals for polarization optics

Why Source Titanium Oxide from Eata Energy

In TiO₂, the label "anatase" is not a specification — a few percent of rutile changes a paste's firing window, and surface hydroxyls decide photocatalytic activity. Eata Energy qualifies every batch by XRD phase analysis, BET surface area and particle-size distribution, and formulates solar pastes in-house so rheology stays printable from lot to lot. From 10 nm dispersions to Verneuil crystals, one quality system covers the entire family.

• 3N–4N purity with full trace-element breakdown per certificate
• Phase ratio (anatase/rutile) certified by XRD on every lot
• BET area, D50 and crystal size reported for each powder batch
• Solar pastes formulated for stable viscosity and firing behavior

Custom Titanium Oxide Services

Off-the-shelf phases cover most needs; the rest we engineer. We adjust anatase:rutile ratios, dope with nitrogen, carbon, niobium or transition metals for visible-light response, and grow nanotubes, nanorods and nanowires to your aspect ratio. Paste formulations can be tuned for your mesh and substrate, targets bonded to your backing plate, and rutile crystals cut to your orientation. Send us the specification — we reply with a materials proposal, not a catalog excerpt.

For Research or Industrial Raw Materials, Not For Personal Medical Use!