Synthesis of titanate nanorods by high-temperature oxidation

A high-temperature oxidation method to obtain titanate nanorods has been reported. Annealing NaOH coated Ti metal chips at 800 degrees C in the presence of oxygen and water vapor produced novel tabular titanate nanorods. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and infrared spectrum were applied to characterize the obtained products. The titanate nanorods have a well-crystallized layered structure with a general formula NaxH2-xTi3O7 (x approximate to 0.75). High-temperature NaOH flux and water vapor were found to play important roles in the growth of uniformly sized titanate nanorods. A possible growth mechanism was proposed to understand the formation of the titanate nanorods.