Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2016) 131: 370
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2016-16370-5

Regular Article

Preparation of TiO₂ one-dimensional nanostructures: The effect of oxidizing solvent on structural properties and photocatalytic activity

¹ Department of Physics, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran
² Laboratory of Thin Film and Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Alzahra University, 19938, Tehran, Iran

^* e-mail: s_ramezanisani@yahoo.com

Received: 25 May 2016
Accepted: 19 September 2016
Published online: 21 October 2016

Abstract

TiO₂ nanowires were prepared by hydrothermal growth on Ti plates at 180 C with acetone solvent to oxidize Ti. The effect of the acetone concentration on the structural properties and photocatalytic activity was carefully investigated. It was found that a lower concentration of the oxidizing solvent leads to thinner and longer nanowires. The relationship between the percent of degradation of Methyl Orange (MO) and acetone concentration showed that with increasing acetone concentration, the percent of degradation of MO decreased due to decrease in the content of oxygen vacancies. Photocatalytic reactions at the different acetone concentration all followed the pseudo-first-order rate law. The rate constants increased with decreasing acetone concentration.