Nonaqueous sol–gel synthesis and growth mechanism of single crystalline TiO2 nanorods with high photocatalytic activity

In this paper, we report on a nonaqueous synthesis of single crystalline anatase TiO2 nanorods by reaction between TiCl4 and benzyl alcohol at a low temperature of 80 °C. The resulting samples were characterized with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. We proposed that the TiO2 nanorods were formed through an oriented attachment mechanism. More importantly, these single crystalline anatase TiO2 nanorods exhibited significantly higher photocatalytic activities than commercial photocatalyst P25. This study provides an environmentally friendly and economic approach to produce highly active TiO2 photocatalyst.