Study the Effect of Water Content on the Structure of Electrochemically Prepared TiO2 Nanotubes

Abstract

In this research, the pure titanium foil was treated in glycerol base electrolyte with 0.7 wt.% NH₄F and a small amount of H₂O at 17 V for 2 hours by electrochemical anodization process in order to prepare Titania nanotube arrays at room temperature (~25 ºC), different water content was added to the electrolyte as a tube enhancing agent. The high density uniform arrays are prepared by using organized and well aligned these tubes. The average size of tube diameter, ranging from 57 to 92 nm which found it increases with increasing water content, and the length of the tube ranging from 2.76 to 4.12 µm, also found to increase with increasing water content and ranging in size of wall thickness from 23 to 35 nm. A possible growth mechanism is presented. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were utilized to study the structure and morphology of the Titania films.