Controllable synthesis and tunable photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanowires via alcohol-thermal method

Titania nanowires (TiO2-NW) with tunable aspect ratios and morphologies were directly synthesized using a simple alcohol-thermal technique. Specifically, ethanol and acetic acid were used as solvents and lithium ion was used as the capping agent to promote the conversion of titanium butoxide into TiO2-NW. The morphologies and crystal phases of TiO2-NW were determined by the molar ratio of solvents and the content (mol%) of lithium ion. The band gap of TiO2-NW with pure anatase phase is slightly bigger than that of TiO2-NW with a mixture of anatase and rutile phases. All TiO2-NW could achieve effective decolorization of methyl blue (the decolorization rate is over 95%) after 35-min ultraviolet (UV) irradiation.