Hydronium titanium oxyfluoride was easily obtained by the thermal decomposition of commercial hexafluorotitanic acid using boric acid as fluoride scavenger Two synthetic routes were studied conventional thermal treatment in an oven at 85 C for 20 h and microwave Irradiation for 3 min Powder X-ray and neutron diffraction confirmed that a non-stoichiometric hydronium titanium oxyfluoride isostructural with NH4TiOF3 has been obtained FT-IR and UV-vis characterization of the as-prepared oxyfluoride is also presented The hydronium titanium oxyfluoride has prospective applications as a UV-blocking material and solid-phase catalyst (c) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved