J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2015, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (10): 1059-1064.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2015.07.012

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles    

Effect of Anodization Parameters on Morphology and Photocatalysis Properties of TiO2 Nanotube Arrays

Lianjie Qin1, *, Qijing Chen1, Ruijun Lan2, Runqian Jiang1, Xiao Quan1, Bin Xu1, Feng Zhang1, Yongmin Jia1   

  1. 1 School of Environment and Material Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China;
    2 School of Opto-electrical Information Science and Technology, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
  • Received:2015-01-21 Revised:2015-02-16
  • Contact: * Corresponding author. Ph.D.; Tel: +86 535 6901817; Fax: +86 535 6902191.E-mail address: ljqin@ytu.edu.cn (L. Qin).
  • Supported by:
    This work was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61405171), the Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation (No. ZR2012FQ014), and the Shandong Province Higher Educational Science and Technology Program (No. G12LA08, No. J13LJ05).

Abstract: Highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays were fabricated via electrochemical anodization of high purity Ti foil in fluoride-containing electrolyte. The effects of applied anodization potential, anodization time on the formation of TiO2 nanotube arrays and the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) were discussed. The TiO2 nanotube arrays calcined at 500°C for 2h show pure anatase phase. The pore diameters of TiO2 nanotube arrays can be adjusted from 30 to 90nm using a different anodization voltage. Anodization time mainly influenced TiO2 tube length, and by increasing the anodization time, the nanotube length became longer gradually. When the anodization potential was 40V, the average growth rate of TiO2 nanotube was about 4.17µm/h. Both anodization potential and time had important effects on the photocatalytic efficiency. The TiO2 nanotube arrays obtained at anodization potential of 40V for 1h showed the best photocatalytic degradation ratio of MB.

Key words: TiO2 nanotubes, Electrochemical anodization, Photocatalysis