Search

In this study, we engineered a sub-70 nm nanocomposite of ZnO/Zn2TiO4 using a low-temperature solution-phase method with titanium isopropoxide and zinc acetate as precursors, and isopropyl alcohol and water as solvents. The investigation focused on nanocomposite growth by varying precursor and surfactant concentrations and their efficiency within different pH ranges. All three ZnO/Zn2TiO4 nanocomposites exhibited hexagonal wurtzite ZnO and Zn2TiO4 structures. The crystallite size in these nanocomposites ranged from 39.50 nm to 62.67 nm for ZnO and 21.24 nm to 26.15 nm for Zn2TiO4. Morphological observations using FESEM revealed the formation of dispersed cotton packet-like nanocomposites with sizes ranging from 18 to 350 nm. FTIR analysis showed peaks indicative of Ti–O and Zn–O bond formation, and EDX spectrum confirmed the presence of Ti, O, and Zn. UV spectrums and photocatalytic investigations confirmed the successful formation of ZnO/Zn2TiO4 nanocomposites with notable photocatalytic degradation efficiency for methylene blue dye under various conditions. These findings suggest the potential applicability of the synthesized nanocomposites for environmental pollutant degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a composite material, manganese oxide/reduced titania nanotubes (Mn 2 O 3 /R-TNTs), was synthesized through incorporation of Mn 2 O 3 onto R-TNTs via the reverse pulse electrodeposition technique. The influence of pulse reverse duty cycles on the morphological, structural and electrochemical performance of the surface was studied by varying the applied duty cycle from 10% to 90% for 5 min total on-time at an alternate potential of -0.90 V ( E on ) and 0.00 V ( E off ). FESEM analysis revealed the uniform deposition of Mn 2 O 3 on the circumference of the nanotubes. The amount of Mn 2 O 3 loaded onto the R-TNTs increased as a higher duty cycle was applied. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge tests were employed to elucidate the electrochemical properties of all the synthesized samples in 1 M KCl. The specific capacitance per unit area was greatly enhanced upon the incorporation of Mn 2 O 3 onto R-TNTs, but showed a decrease as a high duty cycle was applied. This proved that low amounts of Mn 2 O 3 loading enhanced the facilitation of the active ions for charge storage purposes. The optimized sample, Mn 2 O 3 /R-TNTs synthesized at 10% duty cycle, exhibited high specific capacitance of 18.32 mF cm -2 at a current density of 0.1 mA cm -2 obtained from constant current charge-discharge measurements. This revealed that the specific capacitance possessed by Mn 2 O 3 /R-TNTs synthesized at 10% duty cycle was 6 times higher than bare R-TNTs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)