Single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nano-flower hierarchical structures for enhanced photocatalytic selective oxidation from amine to imine

Single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nano-flower hierarchical structures were synthesized via a one-pot solvent-thermal method, and they are demonstrated to be ordered three dimensional (3D) hierarchical structures with single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nanorods as building blocks. They exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for the selective oxidation from benzylamine to N-benzylidenebenzylamine (N-BIBL) with high yield under visible light irradiation. Such a remarkable performance could be attributed to the rapid photocharge separation and inhibition of charge recombination due to the unique hierarchical structures of this single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nano-flower. The facilely prepared single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nano-flowers are promising materials in the field of photocatalytic fine chemical conversions and other photocatalytic applications.