Directed growth of TiO_2 nanorods into microspheres

摘要

In this paper, we report a synthetic route to curved 3D microspheres assembled by TiO_2 nanorods, which were built from pure 1D TiO_2 nanocrystals through a solvothermal approach under controlled conditions. The method involves the reaction of titanium trichloride with urea in an n-butanol and water mixture at 150 deg C assisted by a surfactant (span80). The decomposition of urea provided OH~(-) to form 1D TiO_2 nanostructures that further assembled giving rise to 3D microspheres.