title: Formation of self-organized Zircaloy-4 oxide nanotubes in organic viscous electrolyte via anodization.
abstract: This work reports the formation of self-organized Zircaloy-4 (Zr-4) oxide nanotubes in viscous organic ethylene glycol (EG) electrolyte containing a small amount of fluoride salt and deionized (DI) water via an electrochemical anodization. The structure, morphology, and composition of the Zr-4 oxide nanotubes were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), EDX, and XPS. SEM results showed that the length of the nanotubes is approximately 13 μm, and TEM results showed that the inner diameter of the Zr-4 oxide nanotubes is approximately 20 nm with average wall thickness of approximately 7 nm. XRD and selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAED) results confirmed that the as-anodized Zr-4 oxide nanotubes have cubic crystalline structure. Both cubic and monoclinic phases were found after annealing of Zr-4 oxide nanotubes. The tubular structure morphology of Zr-4 oxide nanotubes did not remain intact after annealing which is attributed to the elimination of F species from the annealed nanotubes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering (NQE), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 373-1 Guseong, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea ; Nanomaterials Research Group, Physics Division, PINSTECH, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Ghafar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering (NQE), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 373-1 Guseong, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yang Jeong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering (NQE), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 373-1 Guseong, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering (NQE), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 373-1 Guseong, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Oh
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Cho
keywords: Anodization; Nanotubes; SEM; TEM; XPS; Zircaloy