Correction: Single-crystal TiO₂ nanowires by seed assisted thermal oxidation of Ti foil: synthesis and photocatalytic properties

Abstract

Correction for ‘Single-crystal TiO2 nanowires by seed assisted thermal oxidation of Ti foil: synthesis and photocatalytic properties’ by E. Arcadipane et al., RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 55490–55498.

Seed-Assisted Growth of TiO2 Nanowires by Thermal Oxidation for Chemical Gas Sensing

“…On the contrary, dense, long, and thin NWs were formed when the oxidation temperature was increased to 700 °C (Figure 4c). Early studies demonstrate that the Ti diffusion temperature required to form nanowires is above 800 °C (in Ti foils) [20,32]. Nevertheless, we observed that this temperature decreases to 650 °C in the presence of Au nanoparticles.…”

“…This base can be clearly observed when the oxidation time is longer than 3 h. Figure 7 shows that few NWs cause a change of direction with very sharp edges. This is due to the extended defects in the crystallographic structure of the NWs [32]. These defects can lead to an abrupt change of crystal structure orientation in NWs, which results in a sharp change of the main growth direction.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that Ti atoms diffuse from the Ti layer to Au, forming intermetallic phases TiAu 4 , TiAu 2 , TiAu, and Ti 3 Au [41]. The diffusion can occur in a local gradient of chemical potentials in the presence of Au NPs [32,42]. The presence of the Au catalyst is of utmost importance in the synthesis of Ti NWs, as Au promotes preferential nucleation of TiO 2 on its surface and it also suppresses TiO 2 nucleation on other sites of the substrate.…”

“…Recent studies focused on the synthesis of TiO 2 NWs by the thermal oxidation method. This method allows the production of TiO 2 NWs with a stable rutile phase [32]. The oxidation of a Ti foil in an oxygen environment has been previously studied [17,20,33], and Peng et al [18] showed that a direct oxidation of the Ti foil was also possible in an organic atmosphere.…”