Preparation of helical titania nanotubes using a sol–gel transcription approach

Abstract

a b s t r a c tTitania nanoparticles have attracted much attention for their application in catalysis. Over the last few decades, studies have shown that their morphology can be carefully controlled. However, reports on the preparation of helical titania nanotubes are rare. Here, a pair of valine-derived chiral cationic gelators were synthesized, which could self-assemble into helical nanofibers in ethanol and isopropanol. Single-handed helical titania nanotubes were prepared using a sol-gel transcription approach, using the self-assembly of the gelators as a template. The results indicated that the handedness of the titania nanotubes was controlled by that of the organic self-assembled structures. Transmission electron microscopy images indicated that the nanotubes were constructed from nanocrystals. Wideangle X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the nanocrystals were anatase. Because the space group of anatase phases is chiral, the titania nanotubes have the potential to be used as asymmetric catalysts, and chirality sensors.

Preparation of single-handed helical carbonaceous nanotubes using 3-aminophenol-formaldehyde resin

“…4 Silicon microtubes have been prepared via the evaporation of sodium from NaSi disks. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] The optical chirality of these materials has been studied using circular dichroism (CD), and diffuse reectance circular dichroism (DRCD). 6 Although materials with helical morphologies can be obtained, it is difficult to obtain single-handed materials using these approaches.…”

Chiral defects on single-handed helical Ta2O5 nanotubes prepared using a supramolecular templating approach

“…1 However, synthetic approaches and theories on chiral nanoparticles are still very limited. 12,13 With the development of supramolecular templating approaches, nanostructures including single-handed helical silica, [14][15][16] polybissilsesquioxane, [17][18][19][20] polypyrrole, 21 titania, [22][23][24] CdS, 25 zirconia, 26 and tantalum oxide (Ta 2 O 5 ) 22,27 nanotubes have been prepared. Their optical activity is generally characterized using circular dichroism (CD) or diffuse reectance CD (DRCD).…”

Investigation on preparation and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanosheet film on Ti substrate

“…Considerable research efforts have been carried out in the controllable fabrication of titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) in various dimensionalities and morphologies [1,2]. As an important wide bandgap semiconductor, various nanostructures of TiO 2 have been explored to improve its efficiencies.…”