Mesoporous titanium dioxide nanoparticles and process for their production

A method for producing generally uniform TiO2 nanoparticles of from 20 nm to 100 nm in size wherein each particle contains generally uniform pores in the mesopore size range having a generally narrow pore size distribution centered at a value between about 2 nm to about 12 nm comprising:

• (i) forming an aqueous solution of a water soluble compound of titanium at a concentration of from 0.5 to 1.5 moles per liter in the presence of an alpha hydroxyl carboxylic acid at an acid to titanium molar ratio of from 0.02 to 0.2;
• (ii) heating the aqueous solution to a temperature in the range of from 70° C. to 80° C. and maintaining that temperature for a period of from 1 hour to 3 hours, and then heating the aqueous solution to a temperature in the range of from 100° C. up to the refluxing temperature and maintaining that temperature for an additional period of from 2 hours to 4 hours;
• (iii) cooling the solution to room or ambient temperature, and separating the reaction product.