Photocatalytic Properties of One-Dimensional Nanostructured Titanates

One-dimensional titanate nanostructures were synthesized by a hydrothermal route with use of the anatase and rutile phases of titania as precursors in 10 M NaOH. Hollow, multilayer trititanate (H 2 Ti 3 O 7 ) nanotubes were formed at an autoclave temperature of 100 °C, while solid trititanate nanorods were formed at 200 °C. A further calcination at 300 °C leads to the formation of thicker nanorods of the TiO 2 (B) phase. These high aspect ratio titania-based nanostructures were found to show enhanced catalytic activity in the gas phase photocatalytic oxidation of ethylene, which to the best of our knowledge is attempted for the first time for these types of protonic titanates. Among the various nanostructures studied, the H 2 Ti 3 O 7 nanotubes show the highest photoactivity and factors affecting its activity are studied as a function of calcination temperature of these catalysts so as to arrive at the structure activity correlation.