The effect of electrolyte re-utilization in the growth rate and morphology of TiO2 nanotubes

摘要

In an industrial context, the re-utilization of resources is very important to monetize processes, reducing the production costs without overlooking a proper performance of the devices. For specific applications such as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC), a high-aspect-ratio configuration of the produced TiO2 nano tubes (NTs) is essential to achieve higher conversion efficiencies. In this work, we report the effect of electrolyte re-utilization in the diameter, length and morphology of TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) produced by electrochemical anodization. A detailed study of the bias voltage effect on the anodic NTs for new and reutilized electrolytes was performed. Also, the possibility of obtaining NT arrays with ribs morphology just by re-using the electrolyte was unveiled. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.