Strelitzia-like titanium oxide nanopetals grown onto single wall carbon nanostructures for photocatalytic applications

The broad blooming of strelitzia-like titanium oxide nanopetals was obtained onto single wall carbon nanostructures by the synergistic employment of two vapor techniques: metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and magnetron sputtering 1. The nanocomposite photocatalyst exhibited a significant increase of phenol degradation efficiency under UV light irradiation with respect to the bare titanium oxide thin films deposited via RF magnetron sputtering and the titanium oxide coated carbon nanostructures via MOCVD 2,3. The hybrid nanostructured material was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction and its peculiar synthesis conditions were discussed.