Hydrothermal synthesis of titanate nanostructures with high UV absorption characteristics

The titanate nanostructures with high UV absorption characteristics could be fabricated by hydrothermal method within a temperature range of 90–150 °C. TEM, XRD, BET analyses, and UV–vis spectroscopy were employed to elucidate the synthesized titanate nanostructure characteristics which were microstructure, phase transformation, specific surface area, and band gap energy, respectively. With an increase in the hydrothermal treating temperature from 90 to 120 °C, the specific surface area of titanate nanostructures was increased from 83 to 258 m2/g, while the band gap energy of titanate nanostructures was increased from 3.44 to 3.84 eV and then slightly decreased to 3.81 eV at 150 °C. The fabricated titanate nanostructures could exhibit higher UV adsorption capability but lower photocatalytic activity when compared with that of commercial TiO2 powders.