Fabrication and property investigation of the highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays

The highly ordered and uniform TiO2 nanotube arrays were fabricated by anodic oxidation of titanium foil in ethylene glycol solution containing NH4 F.The diameter,density,length and wall thickness of the prepared nanotube arrays can be controlled effectively by varying the anodization parameters.The microstructures and morphologies of the fabricated TiO2 nanotube were characterized by scanning electron microscope(SEM) and X-ray diffraction(XRD),and its photocatalytic properties were investigated via the degradation of methyl orange.The results show that the highly ordered and uniform TiO2 nanotube arrays could be grown under the conditions optimized by authors.Using the prepared TiO2 nanotube arrays as photocatalyst and after 40 min illumination of the high voltage mercury lamp(500 W),the degradation ratio of methyl orange in its aqueous solution with concentratin of 20 mg·L-1 can reach 99.4% when the solution pH value is 2.0.And it was found that the photocatalysis of TiO2 nanotube can be improved by adding H2O2 into the solution.