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Rutile titanium dioxide nanorods have been synthesized by a simple and cost-effective hydrothermal deposition method onto the conducting glass substrates. In order to study the effect of surfactants on the growth of TiO 2 , different surfactants like ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, polyvinylpyrrolidone, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) are used. These films are characterized for their morphological, structural, compositional, optical and electrochemical properties using field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. FE-SEM images showed the formation of densely packed nanorods for SDS mediated TiO 2 . XRD patterns show the formation of polycrystalline TiO 2 with the tetragonal crystal structure possessing rutile phase. The chemical composition and valence states of the constituent elements were analysed by XPS. The films were photoelectrochemically active with the maximum current density of 378 lA/cm 2 with enhanced photovoltage of 615 mV for the sample prepared with SDS surfactant.

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In the present work, vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) nanoparticles have been successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal method. The effect of annealing on the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye is studied. Structure of V 2 O 5 is confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy, while Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is used for functional group detection. Agglomerated nanoparticle morphology is observed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The direct band gap of V 2 O 5 is 2.63-2.81 eV calculated using ultraviolet-visible (UV) spectra. Finally, the photocatalytic degradation of MB dye by V 2 O 5 is studied. The results indicate a promising and enhanced degradation property of calcinated V 2 O 5 . Very small quantity calcinated V 2 O 5 shows about 68% degradation of MB within 80 min, and the rate constant for calcinated product is 9.9 × 10 -5 s -1 .