Titania nanoflowers with high photocatalytic activity

Titania with nanostructures has attracted considerable attention due to its potential use in catalysts, gas sensors, photovoltaic cells, photonic crystals, etc. This paper reports the synthesis of titania nanoflowers by simply oxidizing pure titanium with hydrogen peroxide solutions containing hexamethylenetetramine and nitric acid at a low temperature of 353 K. Titania nanoflowers with the crystal structure of anatase or a mixture of anatase and rutile were obtained after a subsequent thermal treatment to crystallize the as-precipitated amorphous structure. Photocatalytic tests revealed an excellent photocatalytic property of the titania nanoflowers.