Titanium Oxide Nanorods Extracted From Ilmenite Sands

One dimensional titanium oxides (TiO 2 ) nanorods and nanowires have substantial applications in photocatalytic, nanoelectronic, and photoelectrochemical areas. These applications require large quantities of materials and a production technique suitable for future industry fabrication. We demonstrate here a new method for mass production of TiO 2 nanorods from mineral ilmenite sands (FeTiO 3 ). In this process, powder mixtures of ilmenite and activated carbon were first ball milled; the milled samples were then heated twice at two different temperatures. First high-temperature annealing produced metastable titanium oxide phases, and subsequent second low-temperature annealing in N 2 −5%H 2 activates the growth of rutile nanorods. This solid-state growth process allows large-quantity production of rutile nanorods.