title: Enhanced photocatalytic activity of titanium oxide nanotubes after heating treatment.
abstract: Titanium oxide nanotubes were obtained by an electrochemical anodization method. Scanning electron microscope results demonstrate that the diameter of the tubes is about 120 nm and the length of the tubes is around 13 microm. Transmission electron microscope results indicate that the nanotubes are assembled by numerous nanoparticles and tube-like structure remains well after heat treatment at 400-600 degrees C. The photocatalysis performance of the nanotubes was evaluated in terms of the decomposition rate of methyl orange under UV irradiation. The results show that the photocatalytic activity was enhanced through the heating treatment of the nanotubes, and the nanotubes heated at 600 degrees C exhibits the best photocatalytic activity. X-ray diffraction patterns indicate that there is no phase transformation during the heat treatment. Therefore, the enhanced activity can be attributed to the improvement of nanotubes crystallinity, which may provide more insights about the effect of the crystallinity on the photocatalytic performance.
authors: School of Engineering System, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
authors: Meinan
authors: M
authors: Liu
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Chang
authors: Hongxia
authors: H
authors: Wang
authors: Cheng
authors: C
authors: Yan
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Bell