Morphological and structural insights into high aspect ratio lauric acid/TiO2 nanowires: A low-temperature synthesis

The fundamental objective of this research work is to study the effect of the Titanium foil physical and chemical pretreatment on the structure, surface morphology, size and size distribution of lauric acid-coated TiO2 nano wires. Meanwhile, the effects of the synthesis temperature and synthesis time, which are two important parameters in the low-temperature synthesis, have been investigated. Lauric acid/TiO2 powder and immobilized nanowires have been characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR analyses. The XRD and SAED patterns confirm the rutile single crystalline structure, and the d-spacing as tiny as 3.2 degrees An indicates the compactness of TiO2 nanowire films, which is due to the increased local pressure. Lauric acid/TiO2 Nanowire histograms measured by TEM images indicate that aspect ratio of 793 can be attained in synthesis condition of 180 degrees C and 6 h-24 h. SEM, XRD, and FTIR results confirm the presence of lauric acid on the surface of TiO2 nanowire, which can extend its applications.

Automated summary

The research aims to investigate the impact of Titanium foil pretreatment on the structure and surface of TiO2 nano wires, as well as the crucial parameters of synthesis temperature and time in low-temperature synthesis. The experiment results demonstrate that high aspect ratios can be achieved for lauric acid-coated TiO2 nano wires under specific conditions.