title: Self-assembly of large-scale floating TiO2 nanorod arrays at the gas-liquid interface.
abstract: This paper describes a facile one-step synthesis of large-scale floating TiO2 nanorod arrays via a hydrothermal reaction without using any surfactants, which opens a new way to prepare floating photocatalysts for photodecomposition of floating organics and free-standing nanorod arrays for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells. A general model is developed to analyze the driving force for the floating TiO2 film, which may be also useful for other two-dimensional materials to determine the obtainable size of an arbitrary shaped film floated by surface tension and buoyancy.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, ‡Department of Electronics, ⊥School of Software and Microelectronics, §Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Hua-Rong
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Long-Wei
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wen-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Lian-Mao
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Peng