Solid-Phase Synthesis of Titanium Dioxide Micro-Nanostructures

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) micro-nanostructures are widely utilized in photochemical applications due to their unique band gaps and are of huge demand in scientific research and industrial manufacture. Herein, this work reports a controllable, facile, economical, and green solid-phase synthesis strategy to prepare TiO2 with governable morphologies containing 1D nanorods, 3D microbulks, and irregular thick plates. Specifically, Ti powders are transformed into TiO2 micro-nanostructures through dispersing them into a solid NaOH/KOH mixture with a low eutectic point, followed by grinding, heating, ion exchange, and calcination. As no solvents are utilized in the alkali treatment process, the usage of solvents is decreased and high vapor pressure is avoided. Moreover, the band gaps of TiO2 micro-nanostructures can be regulated from 3.02 to 3.34 eV through altering the synthetic parameters. Notably, the as-prepared TiO2 micro-nanostructures exhibit high photocatalytic activities in the degradation of rhodamine B and methylene blue under simulated solar light illumination. It is believed that the solid-phase synthesis strategy will be of huge demand for the synthesis of TiO2 micro-nanostructures.