Improvement of SynthesizationTiO2Nanotube Arrays for Photocatalytic Water- Splitting by Polishing a Bare Ti Sheet

In this paper the effect of different surface improvement methods such as polishing and electropolishing onthe photoelectrochemical properties of TiO2 nanotube arrays were examined. TiO2 nanotubes were synthesizedbyanodization of a Ti metal sheet. Samples were treated by thermal annealing at 500 ºC.Scanning electron microscopicmeasurements show that anodization of the polished samples results in much better uniformly ordered TiO2 nanotuberelative the electropolished or bare samples. X-ray diffraction measurements show thatthe as-prepared nanotubes werelargely amorphous, whereas thermal annealing led to the formation of anatase crystalline phase. Finally, the impacts ofthe TiO2 nanocrystalline structure on the photocatalytic activity were examined by using the reduction ofmethyleneblue in waterby the best sheet.the results indicate good photocatalic activity by the sample polished.

Keywords:

TiO2 nanotube , anodization synthesize , polishing