A thick hierarchical rutile TiO2 nanomaterial with multilayered structure

In the present paper, we synthesized a new type of rutile TiO2 nanomaterial with a hierarchical nanostructure using a novel method, which combined dealloying process with chemical synthesis. The structure characters were examined using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The rutile TiO2 nanomaterial is thick in size (several 10 μm). The hierarchical structure of the rutile TiO2 nanomaterial consists of large quantities nanorods and nanoflower arrays. The nanoflowers consist of serveral nanopetals with diameter of 100–200 nm. The cross section of TiO2 nanomaterials presents a multilayer structure with the layer thickness of about 3–5 μm. The rutile TiO2 nanomaterial has high specific surface area. The formation mechanism of the rutile TiO2 nanomaterial was discussed according to the experimental results. The rutile TiO2 nanomaterial has potential applications in catalysis, photocatalysis and solar cells.