Impact of atomic layer deposited TiO 2 on the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO 2 /w-VA-CNT nanocomposite materials.

Titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) has been widely investigated as a photocatalytic material, and the fact that its performance depends on its crystalline structure motivates further research on the relationship between preparation methods and material properties. In this work, TiO 2 thin films were grown on non-functionalized wave-like patterned vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (w-VA-CNTs) via the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) analysis revealed that the structure of the TiO 2 /VA-CNT nanocomposites varied from amorphous to a crystalline phase with increasing deposition temperature, suggesting a "critical deposition temperature" for the anatase crystalline phase formation. On the other hand, scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) studies revealed that the non-functionalized carbon nanotubes were conformally and homogeneously coated with TiO 2 , forming a nanocomposite while preserving the morphology of the nanotubes. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) provided information about the surface chemistry and stoichiometry of TiO 2 . The photodegradation experiments under ultraviolet (UV) light on a model pollutant (Rhodamine B, RhB) revealed that the nanocomposite comprised of anatase crystalline TiO 2 grown at 200 °C (11.2 nm thickness) presented the highest degradation efficiency viz 55% with an illumination time of 240 min. Furthermore, its recyclability was also demonstrated for multiple cycles, showing good recovery and potential for practical applications.