Oriented crystal growth model explains the formation of titania nanotubes

Akos Kukovecz; Mária Hodos; Endre Horváth; György Radnóczi; Zoltán Kónya; Imre Kiricsi

doi:10.1021/jp054320m

Oriented crystal growth model explains the formation of titania nanotubes

J Phys Chem B. 2005 Sep 29;109(38):17781-3. doi: 10.1021/jp054320m.

Authors

Akos Kukovecz¹, Mária Hodos, Endre Horváth, György Radnóczi, Zoltán Kónya, Imre Kiricsi

Affiliation

¹ Department of Applied and Environmental Chemistry, University of Szeged, Rerrich B. tér 1., Szeged, Hungary.

PMID: 16853277
DOI: 10.1021/jp054320m

Abstract

We discuss the formation mechanism of titania nanotubes synthesized by the hydrothermal method. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis of TEM, HRTEM, FT-Raman, and N(2) adsorption data, we point out some major shortcomings of the currently accepted trititanate sheet rollup mechanism. We suggest that a novel formation mechanism, oriented nanotube crystal growth from nanoloop seeds, can explain the experimental findings better than the ones proposed so far.