Abstract
In this work, the TiO2 tubes (TBs) were prepared by solvothermal method. The morphology and phase structure of TiO2 TBs is significantly affected by N2 annealing temperature. XRD was used to characterize the phase structure of the as-prepared samples. The morphology and surface areas were characterized by SEM and N2 adsorption–desorption, which show that the tubes were assembled with about 100-nm nanosheets and small ball particles under 400 and 600 °C N2 annealing; when temperature reached 800 °C, the surface of tubes appeared a lot of collapse and many large holes. In addition, the surface areas of 400 °C TiO2, 600 °C TiO2, and 800 °C TiO2 TBs were significantly affected by N2 annealing. Most importantly, the UV-vis and electrochemical tests demonstrate 600 °C TiO2 TBs exhibit higher absorption intensity and photocurrent; thus, it possess on better photocatalytic activity. Therefore, the photocatalytic performance for TiO2 TBs is significantly co-affected by surface area and mix-phase.
The morphology of TiO2 TBs is significantly affected by the annealing temperature in N2 atmosphere. The 600 °C TiO2 TBs exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity, which owing to the surface area and mix-phase co-effects the photocatalytic performance.
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Acknowledgements
Financial support for this work from Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2016A030313704), Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2016A010103035, No. 2016B020240003, No. 2016B090918069) are gratefully acknowledged.
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Chen, X., Pan, Z., Yu, K. et al. Influence of N2 annealing on TiO2 tubes structure and its photocatalytic activity. J Nanopart Res 20, 18 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4124-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4124-7