Preparation of TiO2 Nanotube Arrays with Controllable Morphology and their Superhydrophobic Modification for Photocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollution

TiO2, as a photoactive semiconductor material, where like photocatalysis technology is a hot topic of research in recent years, shows great potential for application in the direction of environmental pollution treatment and solar-chemical energy conversion. In this paper, we prepared titanium dioxide nanotube arrays (TNAs) by a simple one-step anodic oxidation method in an ethylene glycol electrolyte containing ammonium fluoride under optimized conditions. The effects of anodic oxidation voltage, anodic oxidation time and annealing temperature on the growth of TNAs were systematically investigated. It was shown that the sample parameters of TNAs prepared by anodic oxidation were influenced by the anodic oxidation conditions, and the tube diameter and anodic oxidation voltage were positively correlated in a certain range. The TNAs with the best characterization performance were selected for photocatalytic degradation, and methylene blue (MB) was used to simulate the organic pollutants. The results show that TNAs have better photocatalytic activity compared with conventional TiO2. On the basis of this, stearic acid (SA) and TNAs were compounded and modified. The TNAs were made to obtain superhydrophobic properties. The photocatalytic degradation experiments were carried out on them. The results show that the superhydrophobic modification does not affect their photocatalytic activity, so it is possible to achieve photocatalytic degradation of water pollution under the premise of superhydrophobicity, which has greater application prospects in water pollution treatment.

Automated summary

In this study, titanium dioxide nanotube arrays (TNAs) were prepared by a one-step anodic oxidation method, and the effects of anodic oxidation conditions on the growth of TNAs were investigated. The results showed that the optimized TNAs exhibited better photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) compared to conventional TiO2. Furthermore, the TNAs were modified to have superhydrophobic properties, and the modification did not affect their photocatalytic activity, which suggests the potential for photocatalytic degradation of water pollution with the added benefit of superhydrophobicity.