Growth of TiO2 nanorods by chemical bath deposition method

TiO2 nanorods have been fabricated from the simple chemical bath deposition (CBD) method and characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and optical absorption studies. The structural study revealed that TiO2 films retain amorphous structure even after annealing at 723 K. The SEM and TEM studies showed good substrate coverage consisting of TiO2 nanorods. The optical band gap declined from 3.4 to 3.3 eV after annealing, showing no significant change. Both as-deposited and annealed TiO2 films exhibit n-type electrical conductivity. As-deposited and annealed TiO2 films showed hydrophilic behavior as water contact angles were 108 and 128, respectively. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.