engleski

Dependence of morphology of titanate nanotubes on electrochemical etching synthesis temperature

By a simple electrochemical etching process, it is possible to anodize titanium substrate and grow ordered vertically aligned arrays of titanium oxide nanotubes. Titanium oxide is a well know and widely used semiconductor, whereas achieving titania in such nanostructured arrays significantly boosts the materials performance. Just by varying synthesis parameters like pH, reaction time, electrolyte, etc. the morphology and thereof functional properties can be easily modified and controlled to an extent. In this work we examined the effect of reaction temperature during the anodization process, ranging from 4°C, 25°C to 60 °C. Samples were examined by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), scanning electron (SEM) and atomic force (AFM) microscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), to define the critical structural, microstructural, optical and surface properties of derived and modified titania films. The effect of the applied temperature was fairly obvious on the morphology of the samples. The appearance varied from fully ordered and well defined nanotubes to poorly grown tubular nanoporous surface. Also for the achieved nanotubes different circumferences and wall thicknesses were observed. Due to the high specific surfaces of the films, they were tested as immobilized photocatalysts for the degradation of waste pharmaceuticals. They have proven effective.

titanium oxide ; nanotubes ; electrochemical etching ; immobilized photocatalysts

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