Morphology, structure and adsorption of titanate nanotubes prepared using a solvothermal method

Titanate nanotubes were synthesized with a low temperature solvothermal process in a highly alkaline solution with a 30:70 organic solvent/water (by volume) ratio using TiO2-P25 as a precursor. The organic solvents had boiling points below 100 °C and included methanol (M), ethanol (E), acetone (A), methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), n-propanol (NP) or isopropanol (IP). The solvents helped control the morphology of the product; the samples prepared using M, E, and MEK exhibited nanotube structures. The titanate samples were tested via the adsorption of methylene blue (MB) dye. The samples produced using M, E, and MEK had higher surface areas than the other samples (using the solvents A, NP and IP) and therefore exhibited high MB adsorption loadings.