Structural, Morphological and Vibrational Properties of Titanate Nanotubes and Nanoribbons

This work reports the structural, morphological and vibrational properties of titanate nanotubes and nanoribbons obtained from bidimensional structures by hydrothermal treatment of TiO2 in aqueous NaOH solutions. The physical properties of these as-synthesized and heat-treated nanostructures are discussed in comparison with their bulk (Na2Ti3O7 and Na2Ti6O13) counterparts. The results obtained from several characterization techniques allowed to conclude that the layers of both as-synthesized nanotubes and nanoribbons are isostructural to the Na2Ti3O7 compound. However, in the nanotubes, the chemical bonds are deformed because of the curvature of walls while in the nanoribbons the layers present structural disorder due only the size effects. The thermal behavior of titanate nanoribbons is similar to those observed for titanate nanotubes. When thermally treated titanate nanoribbons change to bulk with a phase mixing of Na2Ti3O7 and Na2Ti6O13. We conclude in this work that the chemical composition of both the titanate nanotubes and the nanoribbons is the same, Na2-xHxTi3O7 center dot nH(2)O (0 <= x <= 2) and Raman spectroscopy can be used for an easy and quick identification of both morphology and structure changes of the nanosized titanates.