Synthesis of F-doped flower-like TiO2 nanostructures with high photoelectrochemical activity

We report on a novel and facile approach for the direct growth of F-doped flower-like TiO2 nanostructures on the surface of Ti in HF Solutions under low-temperature hydrothermal conditions. The influence of the experimental parameters such as temperature, reaction duration, and the HF concentration on the morphology and photoelectrocatalytic activity of the formed F-doped flower-like TiO2 nanostructures was systematically studied. The presence of HF and the reaction time play an important role in the formation of the F-doped flower-like TiO2 nanostructures. The synthesized novel F-doped TiO2 flower-like nanomaterials possess good crystallinity and exhibit high photoelectrochemical activity for water-splitting and photodegradation of organic pollutants compared with P-25, which is currently considered to be one of the best commercial TiO2 photocatalysts. The approach described in this study provides a simple and novel method to synthesize F-doped TiO2 nanostructured materials that are ready for practical applications such as the photodegradation of wastewater.