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Characterization of the photoactivity of nanotube layers grown on Ti–35Nb and Ti–35Nb–4Sn alloys

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Abstract

TiO2 nanotube arrays, grown on titanium metal by anodizing, have been widely used as a photoelectrode. Titanium alloys have also been anodized to obtain doped TiO2 nanotubes or as oxide heterojunctions with enhanced photoactivity, in some cases with absorption extending over the region of visible light. In this paper, samples of Ti–35Nb and Ti–35Nb–4Sn (wt%) alloys were anodized in a dilute HF electrolyte to grow a self-ordered nanotube layer and were heat treated for crystallization of anatase phase of TiO2. Characterization by X-ray diffraction and photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the oxide layers were composed of anatase-TiO2/Nb2O5 and anatase-TiO2/Nb2O5/SnO2 phases. TiO2/Nb2O5 nanotubes showed a photoresponse compared with TiO2 nanotube arrays, with photoactivity extending to the region of visible light as a consequence of a band gap energy lower than that of TiO2. A band gap energy of 2.5 eV was calculated by fitting data from the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (Tauc plot) using the Kubelka–Munk function.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. Ana Flavia Nogueira for providing the equipment for the IPCE analysis and the National Laboratory of Synchrotron Radiation (LNLS) for the XPS analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Rua Mendeleyev, 200, Campinas, SP, 13083-860, Brazil

    Nathalia Carolina Veríssimo, Raul Sebastião Figueiredo, Haroldo Gregório de Oliveira, Rubens Caram & Rodnei Bertazzoli

  2. Departamento de Ciências Exatas e da Terra, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua São Nicolau, 210, Diadema, SP, 09913-030, Brazil

    Christiane Arruda Rodrigues

  3. Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, ITA, Praça Marechal Eduardo Gomes, 50, São José Dos Campos, SP, 12228-900, Brazil

    Rodnei Bertazzoli

Authors
  1. Nathalia Carolina Veríssimo
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  2. Raul Sebastião Figueiredo
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  3. Haroldo Gregório de Oliveira
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  4. Christiane Arruda Rodrigues
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  5. Rubens Caram
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  6. Rodnei Bertazzoli
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Correspondence to Rodnei Bertazzoli.

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Veríssimo, N.C., Figueiredo, R.S., de Oliveira, H.G. et al. Characterization of the photoactivity of nanotube layers grown on Ti–35Nb and Ti–35Nb–4Sn alloys. J Mater Sci 51, 9384–9393 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0184-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0184-1

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