Synthesis of ultrafine titania nano-cages by pulsed laser ablation of Ti/Al alloy in ammonium hydroxide

A simple and versatile strategy is designed to successfully fabricate ultrafine TiO2 nano-cages based on the rapid decomposition reaction between amphoteric hydroxide and ammonia solution by pulsed laser ablation of Ti/Al alloy in liquid. With the ammonia concentration (V-ammonia: V-water where V is volume) increasing from 1 : 10 to 1 :4, the diameter and shell thickness of quasi-spherical TiO2 nano-cages substantially decrease from 300 and 60 nm to 9.2 and 2.8 nm, respectively. The obtained results have significant implications for obtaining insight into the properties of the TiO2 porous nano-cages, offering the basis for further fabrication of other nano-cages.