Controllable synthesis and tunable photocatalytic activity of TiO ₂ nanowires via alcohol‐thermal method

Abstract

Abstract Titania nanowires (TiO 2 ‐NW) with tunable aspect ratios and morphologies were directly synthesized using a simple alcohol‐thermal technique. Specifically, ethanol and acetic acid were used as solvents and lithium ion was used as the capping agent to promote the conversion of titanium butoxide into TiO 2 ‐NW. The morphologies and crystal phases of TiO 2 ‐NW were determined by the molar ratio of solvents and the content (mol%) of lithium ion. The band gap of TiO 2 ‐NW with pure anatase phase is slightly bigger than that of TiO 2 ‐NW with a mixture of anatase and rutile phases. All TiO 2 ‐NW could achieve effective decolorization of methyl blue (the decolorization rate is over 95%) after 35‐min ultraviolet (UV) irradiation.