Self-induced preparation of Ti3O5 nanorods by chemical vapor deposition

The single crystalline monoclinic Ti3O5 nanorods were successfully synthesized on Ti5Si3 powder by self-induced atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) method using SiH4, TiCl4, and O2 as the precursors. The results showed that the smooth and straight nanorods were obtained on Ti5Si3 particles heating at 800 °C for 90 min using 20 SCCM (SCCM denotes cubic centimeter per minute at STP (standard temperature and pressure)) O2. The length and diameters of nanorods was about 500 nm and 20-40 nm, respectively. The Ti3O5 nanorods were grown on Ti5Si3 particles from the bottom and then the tip was pushed upwards. The growth process results indicated that the self-induced growth was the main mechanism for nanorods formation. Meanwhile, the Ti3O5 nanorods exhibited high density and large specific surface with stronger photocatalytic activity. The intensity of absorption peak of methylene blue solution decreased from 0.69 to 0.09 with higher degradation rate of 80% under conditions of Ti3O5 nanorods. Thus, the novel Ti3O5 nanorods have great potential application for pollution photocatalytic degradation.