Titanate nanotube thin films with enhanced thermal stability and high-transparency prepared from additive-free sols

Titanate nanotubes were synthesized from TiO2 in alkaline medium by a conventional hydrothermal method (150 °C, 4.7 bar). To obtain hydrogen titanates, the as-prepared sodium titanates were treated with either HCl or H3PO4 aqueous solutions. A simple synthesis procedure was devised for stable titanate nanotube sols without using any additives. These highly stable ethanolic sols can readily be used to prepare transparent titanate nanotube thin films of high quality. The resulting samples were studied by X-ray diffraction, N2-sorption measurements, Raman spectroscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The comparative results of using two kinds of acids shed light on the superior thermal stability of the H3PO4-treated titanate nanotubes (P-TNTs). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that P-TNTs contains P in the near-surface region and the thermal stability was enhanced even at a low (∼0.5 at%) concentration of P. After calcination at 500 °C, the specific surface areas of the HCl- and H3PO4-treated samples were 153 and 244 m2 g−1, respectively. The effects of H3PO4 treatment on the structure, morphology and porosity of titanate nanotubes are discussed.