The role of the Ti surface roughness in the self-ordering of TiO 2 nanotubes: A detailed study of the growth mechanism

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2014

Authors

A. Apolinário (Author) FCUP; L. Andrade (Author) FEUP; A. M. Mendes (Author) FEUP; C. T. Sousa (Author) Other; J. Ventura (Author) Other; J. D. Costa (Author) Other; D. C. Leitão (Author) Other; J. M. Moreira (Author) Other; J. B. Sousa (Author) Other; J. P. Araújo (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Materials Chemistry

Vol. 2 No. 24

Pages: 9067-9078

ISSN: 0959-9428

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 44 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 47 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Chemical engineering

CORDIS: Technological sciences > Engineering > Chemical engineering

Associated Projects

H2Solar - Células fotoelectroquímicas para produção de hidrogénio a partir de energia solar

DyeCell - Modelização, optimização e up-scaling de materiais nanoestruturados para células solares sensibilizadas com corante

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-009-HJS

DOI: 10.1039/c4ta00871e

Abstract (EN): Highly ordered TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) were synthesized by electrochemical anodization of Ti foils. We investigated the effect of the Ti surface roughness (applying different pre-treatments prior to the anodization) on the length, growth rate and degree of self-organization of the obtained NT arrays. The mechanisms related to the TiO2 NT formation and growth were correlated not only with the corresponding anodization curves but also with their appropriate derivatives (1st order) and suitable integrated and/or obtained parameters, to reveal the onset and end of different electrochemical regimes. This enables an in-depth interpretation (and physical-chemical insight), for different levels of surface roughness and topographic features. We found that pre-treatments lead to an extremely small Ti surface roughness, offer an enhanced NT length and also provide a significant improvement in the template organization quality (highly ordered hexagonal NT arrays over larger areas), due to the optimized surface topography. We present a new statistical approach for evaluating highly ordered hexagonal NT array areas. Large domains with ideally arranged nanotube structures represented by a hexagonal closely packed array were obtained (6.61 ¿m2), close to the smallest grain diameter of the Ti foil and three times larger than those so far reported in the literature. The use of optimized pre-treatments then allowed avoiding a second anodization step, ultimately leading to highly hexagonal self-ordered samples with large organized domains at reduced time and cost. © 2014 the Partner Organisations.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 12