Seed-assisted thermal growth of one-dimensional TiO2 nanomaterials on carbon fibers

One-dimensional (1D) TiO2 nanomaterials (NMs), including TiO2 nanowires (NWs) and TiO2 nanorods (NRs), grown on carbon fibers (CFs) were successfully prepared by a seed-assisted thermal growth method, involving "pre-coating" and "growth" processes. The as-obtained CFs with TiO2-NWs (CFs/TiO2-NWs) and CFs with TiO2-NRs (CFs/TiO2-NRs) were characterized with a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Additionally, the photocatalytic activities of CFs/TiO2-NWs and CFs/TiO2-NRs were evaluated by degrading methylene blue (MB) under UV vis irradiation. The images on FESEM and TEM show that the entire surfaces of CFs are covered with vertically aligned 1D TiO2 NMs. The analyses with XPS and XRD indicate that TiO2-NWs and TiO2-NRs are pure rutile TiO2. MB conversions over CFs/TiO2-NWs (98.6%) and CFs/TiO2-NRs (96.0%) are significantly higher than those over CFs (5.6%) and CFs/TiO2-seed layer (28.4%), implying that the 1D TiO2 NMs covered on CFs can change the micro-structure of CFs and provide more photocatalytically active sites. The photostability tests of CFs/TiO2-NWs and CFs/TiO2-NRs indicate that they are reusable due to the good immobilization of 1D TiO2 NMs on CFs. This work provides an intriguing method for growing 1D TiO2 NMs on flexible substrates.