Abstract:
The sonication aided anodization in the TiO2 Nanotube Arrays (TNTA) formation and its performance for
photocatalytic hydrogen generation from glycerol–water solution (10 v%) has been examined. TNTA were prepared
by anodization of Ti foil at 30 V, 50 oC with glycerol containing fluoride as an electrolyte solution. The anatase phase
was obtained by annealing of amorphous TNTA at 500 oC under H2 in Ar atmosphere for 3 h. TNTA have average
tube’s lengths and inner diameter approximately in the range of 0.5-1.5 μm and 70-84 nm respectively, and a
comparable tube wall thickness of 14-20 nm was also observed. The elemental composition of TNTA observed are Ti,
O, C, N, and F. In the range of 10 – 60 min anodization process, it was found that the average inner diameters and
length of the tubes increase as anodization time increased. The photocatalytic H2 generation test indicated that H2
produced was found to depend on the tube dimension. Among the TNTA obtained, TNTA-U60 with 1.46 µm tube
length showed the highest hydrogen production (47,22 mmol/m2 photocatalyst).
