Thermal annealing-induced self-junction of hydrothermal titanate nanotubes/TiO2 nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic activity

The Use of Ultra-Small Fe3O4 Magnetic Nanoparticles for Hydrothermal Synthesis of Fe3+-Doped Titanate Nanotubes

A method of the hydrothermal synthesis of Fe³⁺-doped titanate nanotubes (TNT) is reported in which the ultra-small Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles are used as the sources of Fe³⁺ ions. The magnetic nanoparticles with a diameter of about 2 nm are added during the washing stage of the hydrothermal procedure. During washing, they gradually degrade and at the same time, the titanate product is transformed into nanotubes. The obtained nanotubes were characterized by structural and magnetic measurements. It was found that, depending on the value of the external magnetic field, they may show the property of room temperature ferromagnetism, paramagnetism or they may be diamagnetic. It was also shown that the modified TNTs have greater photocatalytic activity compared to unmodified TNTs.