ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION Nanostructured polymer–titanium composites and titanium

Abstract Polymer (XAD7HP)/Ti4+ nanocomposites were prepared through the swelling of polymer in titanium (IV) ethoxide as a titanium dioxide precursor. The nano-composite beads exhibit relatively high porosity differ-ent than the porosity of the initial polymer. Thermal treatment of composite particles up to 200 °C in vacu-um causes the change of their internal structure. At higher temperature, the components of composite be-come more tightly packed. Calcination at 600 °C and total removal of polymer produce spherically shaped TiO2 condensed phase as determined by XRD. Thermal-ly treated composites show the substantial change of pore dimensions within micro- and mesopores. The presence of micropores and their transformation during thermal processing was studied successfully by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). The results derived from PALS experiment were compared with those obtaining from low-temperature nitrogen adsorp-tion data