Photocatalytic nanofibers and nanotubes made by atomic layer deposition.

Because of the self-limiting growth principle At. Layer Deposition (ALD) suits very well for depositing thin films on nonplanar surfaces. Neither the size of the substrates nor the size of the structural features has any clear threshold value in ALD. ALD suits very well for making and modifying of nanomaterials. In this presentation the use of ALD for depositing conformal TiO2 films on nonplanar nanostructured surfaces is exemplified by three ways: deposition of thin films on porous alumina, deposition of films on nanofibers made with a porous alumina template, deposition of thin films on nanofibers either on natural fibers like cellulose or electrospun polymer nanofibers. The oxide nanotubes are obtained by annealing in air the TiO2 coated nanofibers and thereby removing the carbohydrate kernel. Photocatalytic activity of the nanomaterials were studied by decompg. methylene blue. The photocatalytic activity could be enhanced by coating the material with noble metal nanoparticles. Reusable magnetic nanofibers were obtained by coating electrospun iron acetate composite fibers with ALD TiO2. [on SciFinder(R)]