Low-temperature growth of monolayer rutile TiO2 nanorod films

Low-temperature growth of well-crystallized titania thin films with controlled nanofeatures are of great interest because of their potential uses in catalysts, gas sensors, photovoltaic cells, photonic crystals, etc. This paper reports the synthesis of a well-crystallized, pure rutile monolayer consisting of well-aligned nanorods with average diameters of ca. 25 nm and an aspect ratio of ca. 6 through a simple solution approach at a low temperature of 80 degrees C. The monolayer nanorods precipitate from the precursors that were obtained through the reaction between metallic titanium and hydrogen peroxide solutions at 80 degrees C for 24-60 h. The nanoporous titania thin layer derived by oxidizing the titanium substrate with hydrogen peroxide at 80 degrees C for 10 min facilitates the growth of the monolayer rutile TiO2 nanorod films.