title: Visible-light-driven reversible and switchable hydrophobic to hydrophilic nitrogen-doped titania surfaces: correlation with photocatalysis.
abstract: Visible-light-responsive nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide nanorods have been synthesized by a hydrothermal method at low temperature. X-Ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements were used to obtain the crystal structures, morphologies, visible-light absorbance, and hydrophobicity, respectively, of the prepared nanorods. The surface wettability of the samples could be reversibly tuned from hydrophobic to hydrophilic upon visible-light illumination. This switchable surface wettability is crucial since the photocatalytic activity of this nanoscaled catalyst for the decomposition of organic molecules exhibits a strong dependence on the surface wettability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Junwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Baodong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gole
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burda
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008027:Light; D008422:Materials Testing; D008751:Methylene Blue / Q000737:chemistry; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet / Q000379:methods; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D014025:Titanium; D009584:Nitrogen; D008751:Methylene Blue