title: Visible-light-driven superhydrophilicity by interfacial charge transfer between metal ions and metal oxide nanostructures.
abstract: Single-crystalline rutile nanorods were synthesized by a facile acid treatment on titanate nanotubes. These rutile nanorods could be highly dispersed in water to form a stable colloidal solution. Cu(2+) ions were grafted onto these rutile nanorods, and the Cu(2+)-grafted nanorods could absorb visible light by the interfacial charge transfer between the valence band of rutile TiO(2) and surface-modified Cu(2+) ions. Transparent thin films of Cu(2+)-grafted nanorods were coated on substrates by a facile spin-coating method. These films exhibited superhydrophilic conversion under visible light irradiation.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba Central 5, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565, Japan. m-miyauchi@aist.go.jp
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyauchi
authors.forename: Zhifu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhi-Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Srinivasan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anandan
authors.forename: Hiromasa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tokudome