Channelled Porous TiO2 Synthesized with a Water‐in‐Oil Microemulsion |
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| Authors: | Dr. Victor Malgras Dr. Priyanka Jood Dr. Ziqi Sun Prof. Shi Xue Dou Prof. Yusuke Yamauchi Prof. Jung Ho Kim |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM), University of Wollongong (UOW), Innovation Campus, North Wollongong, NSW 2500 (Australia), Fax: (+61)?242215731 http://isem.uow.edu.au/staff/UOW110200.html;2. Energy Technology Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1‐1‐1 Umezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305‐8568 (Japan);3. National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1‐1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305‐0044 (Japan) http://www.yamauchi‐labo.com/ |
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| Abstract: | Porous titanium dioxide synthesized with a bicontinuous surfactant template is a promising method that leads to a high active surface area electrode. The template used is based on a water/isooctane/dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate salt together with lecithin. Several parameters were varied during the synthesis to understand and optimize channel formation mechanisms. The material is patterned in stacked conical channels, widening towards the centre of the grains. The active surface area increased by 116 % when the concentration of alkoxide precursors was decreased and increased by 241 % when the template formation temperature was decreased to 10 °C. Increasing the oil phase viscosity tends to widen the pore aperture, thus decreasing the overall active surface area. Changing the phase proportions alters the microemulsion integrity and disrupts channel formation. |
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| Keywords: | channels porous materials surface chemistry surfactants titanium dioxide |
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