A novel and efficient surfactant-free synthesis of Rutile TiO2 microflowers with enhanced photocatalytic activity

•Fast single step surfactant-free solvothermal synthesis of 3D Rutile TiO2 flowers.•Use of viscous solvent ethylene glycol for obtaining specified geometric features.•Well crystallined rutile TiO2 flowers with large surface area.•TiO2 flowers with enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to P25 nanoparticles.•Observation of twice the photocatalytic activity with gold-decorated flowers.

Rutile TiO2 microflowers with three-dimensional spiky flower like architecture at the nanometer level are obtained by a fast single step surfactant free ethylene glycol based solvothermal scheme of synthesis. These structures are characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. These measurements confirm Rutile phase of TiO2 flowers with very high crystallinity. Photodegradation of Rhodamine B with UV exposure is investigated by UV–Visible spectroscopy measurements in the presence of these samples. They are shown to have high photocatalytic activity due to the large surface area contributed by the highly dense spiky nanostructures. The plasmonic (Au) loading in these structures are shown to significantly enhance the photocatalytic activity.

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