Fabrication and Growth Mechanism of Single-crystalline Rutile TiO2 Nanowires by Liquid-phase Deposition Process in a Porous Alumina Template

TiO2 nanowire arrays were successfully fabricated by liquid-phase deposition method using porous alumina templates. The obtained TiO2 nanowires were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis. Results of electron microscopic observations indicated that the nanowires were smooth and uniform with a diameter of about 50–80 nm and several micrometers in length. SAED, Raman, and XRD measurements showed that TiO2 nanowires were single-crystalline with a pure rutile structure after heating at 800 °C for 10 h. In this situation, the nanowire constituents grew preferentially along the <001> direction. Furthermore, the formation process and mechanistic study of the TiO2 nanowire arrays were proposed and discussed in detail. The nanowires are clearly produced by the deposition of TiO2 particles on the inner wall of the template nanochannels.