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Effects of different crystallization methods on photocatalytic performance of TiO2 nanotubes

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Abstract

At present, the commonly used crystallization methods of amorphous TiO2 include heat treatment and water-assisted crystallization. However, the cost of heat treatment is high and the morphology of nanotubes is easy to be destroyed, and the crystallinity of water-assisted crystallization is low. In this work, the two treatment methods were combined for the first time, and the effects of different crystallization methods on the photocatalytic performance of TiO2 nanotubes were also studied in detail. The results suggested that the composite treatment did not change the crystalline phase of TiO2 nanotubes, but the water-assisted crystallization could effectively repair the morphological damage caused by high-temperature heat treatment, thus increasing the specific surface area. Photocatalytic research showed that the TiO2 nanotubes crystallized by the composite treatment exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performance compared with those crystallized by the single method.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFB0301101), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51971054), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. N180904006 and N2009006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Electromagnetic Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaojiang Nie, Junkun Wang, Wenchao Duan & Zhiqiang Zhang

  2. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaojiang Nie, Junkun Wang, Wenchao Duan & Zhiqiang Zhang

  3. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, People’s Republic of China

    Zilong Zhao

  4. Department of Engineering, School of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL109AB, UK

    Liang Li

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Nie, X., Wang, J., Duan, W. et al. Effects of different crystallization methods on photocatalytic performance of TiO2 nanotubes. Appl. Phys. A 127, 879 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-021-05041-3

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