Synthesis of oxy-hydroxyfluorinated anatase nanoparticles grown on carbon nanotubes

Abstract

The synthesis of composite materials containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and inorganic nanocrystals is of interest to combine the specific properties of each components. While literature provides broad studies on the growth of anatase TiO2 onto CNTs, it has never been reported how the presence of aqueous HF could affect the chemical composition of CNTs. Here, we demonstrated that CNTs are inactive toward fluorination during the solvothermal synthesis of an oxy-hydroxyfluorinated compound featuring the anatase-type structure. We further showed that functionalized CNTs offer nucleation sites that favor nanocrystals growth. As a result, the prepared composite features CNTs that are decorated by anatase nanocrystals. The results also showed that, in this condition, titanium alkoxide readily react with HF via a fluorolysis reaction allowing stabilizing high content of fluorine within the anatase network.