Template-based growth of titanium dioxide nanorods by a particulate sol-electrophoretic deposition process

TiO2 nanorods have been successfully grown into a track-etched polycarbonate (PC) membrane by a particulate sol-electrophoretic deposition from an aqueous medium. The prepared sols had a narrow particle size distribution around 17 nm and excellent stability against aging, with zeta potentials in the range of 47-50 mV at pH 2. It was found that TiO2 nanorods were grown from dilute aqueous sol with a low, 0.1-M concentration. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis confirmed that a full conversion of titanium isopropoxide was obtained by hydrolysis, resulting in the formation of TiO2 particles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed that TiO2 nanorods dried at 100 °C were a mixture of anatase and brookite phases, whereas they were a mixture of anatase and rutile structures at 500 °C. Moreover, the rutile content of the TiO2 nanorods was higher than that of TiO2 powders. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images confirmed that TiO2 nanorods had a smooth morphology and longitudinal uniformity in diameter. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) images showed that TiO2 nanorods grown by sol-electrophoresis from the dilute aqueous sol had a dense structure with a uniform diameter of 200 nm, containing small particles with an average size of 15 nm. Simultaneous differential thermal (SDT) analysis verified that individual TiO2 nanorods, grown into a PC template, were obtained after annealing at 500 °C. Based on kinetic studies, it was found that uniform TiO2 nanorods with high-quality morphology were obtained under optimum conditions at an applied potential of 0.3 V/cm and a deposition time of 60 min.