Publication Type : Journal Article
Thematic Areas : Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine
Publisher : RSC Advances
Source : RSC Advances, Volume 3, Number 47, p.24858-24862 (2013)
Keywords : Acid treatments, Alkali treatment, Composite nanofibers, Electrospuns, Hydrothermal conditions, Low-temperature sintering, Nanofibers, Photocatalytic application, Synthesis route, Titanium compounds, Titanium dioxide
Campus : Kochi
School : Center for Nanosciences
Center : Nanosciences
Department : Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine
Year : 2013
Abstract : We report a simple synthesis route for producing ultrafine porous TiO 2 nanofibers (∼10 nm diameters) from electrospun rice-shaped TiO2 nanostructures. The rice-shaped TiO2 obtained by annealing the as-spun TiO2-PVAc composite nanofibers was treated with concentrated alkali (with KOH under hydrothermal conditions) followed by acid treatment and low temperature sintering. The alkali treatment produces the titanate (K2Ti3O7) which undergoes exchange of ions (protons) during the acid treatment resulting in H2Ti 3O7. The heat treatment of the protonated titanate (H 2Ti3O7) results in their conversion to ultrafine TiO2 (titanate-derived TiO2) nanofibers. The rice-shaped TiO2 and the titanate-derived TiO2 nanofibers were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, Raman and BET measurements and the latter has ∼2.5 times higher surface area than the former. The TiO 2 nanofibers showed superior photocatalytic applications than the commercial P-25 TiO2. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Cite this Research Publication : A. S. Nair, Chacko, D. K., Madhavan, A. A., Arun, T. A., S. Thomas, Anjusree, G. S., Deepak, T. G., Balakrishnan, A., Subramanian, K. R. V., Sivakumar, N., and Nair, S. V., “Ultrafine TiO2 nanofibers for photocatalysis”, RSC Advances, vol. 3, pp. 24858-24862, 2013.