Studies on transformation of titanate nanotubes into nanoribbons

High aspect ratio titanate nanostructures were synthesized by simple hydrothermal treatment and the nature of two distinct morphologies, hollow nanotubes and titanate nanoribbons was explored as a function of hydrothermal processing conditions. The samples were characterized by means of SEM, XRD and TEM. The specific surface area of the final products was determined by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. It has been found that hydrothermal temperature and the treatment duration have a strong effect on the morphological control of the resulting products. Transformation of nanotubes into nanoribbons was observed with increase in the treatment temperature from 180 degrees C to 200 degrees C which became more dense with further increase in the temperature from 200 degrees C to 220 degrees C and treatment duration from 12 h to 24 h. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.