The effect of calcination temperature on the microstructure and photocatalytic activity of TiO2-based composite nanotubes prepared by an in situ template dissolution method

Abstract

TiO₂-based composite nanotubes, based on an in situ template dissolution method, were one-step fabricated in a mixed aqueous solution of ammonium hexafluorotitanate and boric acid using ZnO nanorods as templates, and then the samples were calcined at different temperatures. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by photocatalytic decoloration of Methyl Orange (MO) aqueous solution at ambient temperature under UV light. The results showed that the prepared sample possessed nanoscale tubular morphology with a wall thickness of ca. 30–50 nm, inner diameters of ca. 50–150 nm and lengths of ca. 400–2000 nm. The calcined samples exhibited excellent stabilization of the anatase phase in a wide temperature range of 300–800 °C. The un-calcined and calcined samples possessed hierarchically macro-mesoporous structures. The sample calcined at 600 °C exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity, corresponding to the maximal formation rate of ˙OH on the photocatalyst. This is attributed to the improvement of anatase TiO₂ crystallization, the formation of multi-phase structures including anatase, cubic Zn₂TiO₄, hexagonal ZnTiO₃ and cubic ZnTiO₃, and the presence of hierarchically macro-mesoporous structures.