One-Step Acidic Hydrothermal Preparation of Dendritic Rutile TiO(2) Nanorods for Photocatalytic Performance

Three-dimensional and dendritic rutile TiO(2) nanorods were successfully fabricated on a Ti foil surface using a one-step acidic hydrothermal method. The TiO(2) nanorods were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and optical contact angle testing. The results showed that the nanorods with diameters of 100–500 nm and lengths of 100 nm to 1 μm were obtained on the Ti foil surface. The length and density of the TiO(2) nanorods were perfect at the conditions of HCl concentration 0.5 mol/L, temperature 220 °C, and reaction time 12 h. The TiO(2) nanorods formed parallel to the consumption of Ti and grew along the (110) direction having a tetragonal rutile crystal. The morphology of the nanorods possessed a three-dimensional structure. The contact angle of the nanorods was only 13 ± 3.1°. Meanwhile, the photocatalytic activities of the TiO(2) nanorods were carried out using ultraviolet fluorescence spectrophotometry for the methyl orange detection, and the degradation was found to be about 71.00% ± 2.43%. Thus, TiO(2) nanorods can be developed by a one-step acidic hydrothermal method using Ti foil simultaneously as the substrate with a TiO(2) source; the TiO(2) nanorods exhibited photocatalytic performance while being environment-friendly.