Fabrication and characterization of TiO2 nanotube arrays on Ti membrane enlarged by anodic oxidation

Abstract

TiO2 nanotube arrays have attracted a great deal of attention as photocatalytic and photoelectrode materials due to their large surface area, low cost and easy fabrication. Highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays for the photoelectrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells have been fabricated from Ti foil. However, the TiO2 nanotube arrays from Ti foil were not effective for the photocatalytic materials, because it had only one plane for the photocatalytic reaction. We have fabricated the TiO2 nanotube arrays from macroporous Ti metal membrane by anodic oxidation and tried to scale it up. Various factors were controlled to obtain the optimal microstructure of the TiO2 nanotube arrays on the surface of macroporous Ti metallic membrane. Microstructure and phase were studied by SEM and XRD, respectively. Temperature was a very important factor in anodic oxidation of large surface area. 10 mu m thick TiO2 nanotube arrays on Ti metallic membrane having a large surface area were fabricated and some factors for scaling-up were discussed.