Preparation of highly crystalline TiO 2 nanostructures by acid-assisted hydrothermal treatment of hexagonal-structured nanocrystalline titania/cetyltrimethyammonium bromide nanoskeleton

Abstract

Highly crystalline TiO 2 nanostructures were prepared through a facile inorganic acid-assisted hydrothermal treatment of hexagonal-structured assemblies of nanocrystalline titiania templated by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (Hex-ncTiO 2/CTAB Nanoskeleton) as starting materials. All samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The influence of hydrochloric acid concentration on the morphology, crystalline and the formation of the nanostructures were investigated. We found that the morphology and crystalline phase strongly depended on the hydrochloric acid concentrations. More importantly, crystalline phase was closely related to the morphology of TiO 2 nanostructure. Nanoparticles were polycrystalline anatase phase, and aligned nanorods were single crystalline rutile phase. Possible formation mechanisms of TiO 2 nanostructures with various crystalline phases and morphologies were proposed. © 2010 The Author(s).