Electrolyte influence on the anodic synthesis of TiO2 nanotube arrays

Abstract

We report on the structural and morphological features of self-aligned titanium oxide nanotube arrays grown by electrochemical anodization in different electrolytes comprising aqueous acidic media or organic neutral media, and at several potentiostatic voltages ranging between 12 and 60 V. The results show an improvement in the self-alignment of the nanotube arrays and an increase of about 10,000% in the nanotubes length obtained by anodization performed with NH4F in ethylene glycol electrolyte, respect to the case obtained employing the aqueous electrolytes.