Porous Ceramics Made of Nanowires

Titanium dioxide, TiO₂, is an abundant, nontoxic, cheap and versatile material with remarkable properties including brightness, high reflective index, UV absorption, photocatalysis, photovoltaics, semiconductor, electrochromics, as well as photochromics. These versatile and remarkable properties result in their wide range of applications as white pigment and opcifier in paints, coatings, plastics, papers, inks, foods, medicines as well as most toothpastes; as photocatalysts for self-cleaning, anti-fouling, deodorization and waste remediation; as photoelectrochemical catalysts for hydrogen generation; as photovoltaic electrodes for electricity generation. Titanium dioxide is also a premium catalyst support in chemical industry, a gas sensor material, an optical coating material, a structural ceramic, a biocompatible material, and more.

In this talk, by using titania nanowires as basic building blocks, we report the fabrication and characterization of a novel porous material made of titania nanowires. Titania nanowires are prepared through a cost effective hydrothermal process. This porous titania possesses extremely open structure, high surface area, uniform internal surface. The novel porous titania materials outperform their nanoparticle or microparticles counterparts in many applications due to the unique structure that only nanowires can provide.