Effects of hydrothermal post-treatment on microstructures and morphology of titanate nanoribbons

Titanate nanoribbons were prepared via a hydrothermal treatment of rutile-type TiO2 powders in a 10 M NaOH solution at 200 °C for 48 h. The as-prepared titanate nanoribbons were then hydrothermally post-treated at 150 °C for 12–36 h. The titanate nanoribbons before and after hydrothermal post-treatment were characterized with FESEM, XRD, TEM, UV–VIS and nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms. The results showed that the hydrothermal post-treatment not only promoted the phase transformation from titanate to anatase TiO2, but also was beneficial to the removal of Na+ ions remained in the titanate nanoribbons. After hydrothermal post-treatment, the TiO2 samples retained the one-dimensional structure feature of the titanate nanoribbons and showed an obvious increase in the specific surface area and the pore volume.