Fabrication of TiO

The fabrication process and the growth mechanism of titanium/titania nanotubes prepared by anodization process is reviewed, and their applications in the fields of dye sensitized solar cells, photocatalysts, electrochromic devices, gas sensors, and biomaterials are presented. The anodization of Ti thin films on different substrates and the growth process of anodic titanium oxide are described using the current-time curves. Special attention is paid on the influences of the initial film smoothness on the resulted nanoporous morphologies. The “threshold barrier layer thickness model” is used to discuss the growth mechanism. As a case study for gas sensing, anodized highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays and nanoporous thin films that show porous surface with an average diameter of 25 nm and interpore distance of 40 nm were prepared. Gas sensors based on such nanotube arrays and nanoporous thin films were fabricated, and their sensing properties were investigated. Excellent H2 gas sensing properties were obtained for sensors prepared from these highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays, which present stable response even at a low operating temperature of 90°C. Based on our experimental results, “H-induced O2− desorption” mechanism was used for explaining the hydrogen gas sensing mechanism

Large piezoelectric properties in KNN-based lead-free single crystals grown by a seed-free solid-state crystal growth method

We report lead-free single crystals with a nominal formula of (K₀.₄₅Na₀.₅₅)₀.96Li₀.₀₄NbO₃grown using a simple low-cost seed-free solid-state crystal growth method (SFSSCG). The crystals thus prepared can reach maximum dimensions of 6 mm × 5 mm × 2 mm and exhibit a large piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃ of 689 pC/N. Moreover, the effective piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃*, obtained under a unipolar electric field of 30 kV/cm, can reach 967 pm/V. The large piezoelectric response plus the high Curie temperature (TC) of 432 °C indicate that SFSSCG is an effective approach to synthesize high-performance lead-free piezoelectricsingle crystals.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Nos. 51332009 and 51172257), National Basic Research Program of China 973- Projects (2012CB619406), the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams, and Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (15ZR1445400). Y.L. appreciates the financial support from the Australian Research Council in the form of Future Fellowship