A new architecture of bowl-type mesoporous TiO 2 via facile electrospray method

We demonstrate here the fabrication of a novel morphology of bowl-shaped TiO2 aggregates via a facile electrospray technique using TiO2 nanowires. These have been prepared by using lauric acid via solvothermal synthetic route. The modulation of surface energies of the different crystallographic faces through the use of lauric acid is the key parameter for the anisotropic growth. These aggregates have high specific surface area of up to 93.10 m2/g, and relatively large pores with a mean size of 4.68 nm. These porous structures can provide a high number of active adsorption sites and act as photo-related reaction centers. The prepared bowl-shaped TiO2 are in micrometer size and have good morphology and high specific surface area. A possible mechanism for the formation of bowl-shaped TiO2 aggregates is also proposed, based on the results. The light scattering properties of bowl-shaped architectures are characterized by the UV–Vis spectrometry. The superior light scattering abilities of bowl-shape makes them promising architectures for applications in the photovoltaic devices.