Synthesis, Charecterization and Photocatlytic Application of the Grassy-Free Standing Titanium dioxide Nanotunes (G<sub>fs</sub> –TiNts)

This work presents the synthesis and characterization of high performance Grassy-Free standing TiO2 nanotubes (Gfs-TiNts). The scalable 2-step anodization technique is selected to formulate the Gfs-TiNts. The synthesis route provided ordered and a few micrometers long TiO2 nanotubes with nanotubular morphology. Initially, Ti base layer is utilized as a substrate for the synthesis of 1-step anodized TiNts. Certain parameters are carefully chosen to synthesize the nanotubes. After 2nd step anodization, the nanotubes are removed from the substrate and obtained as free standing Grassy TiO2 nanotubes. Furthermore, the various characterizations are also performed including Field-emission Scanning Electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) respectively. These characterizations confirmed the formation of ordered free standing TiNts. Through these viable characterizations, some morphological, structural and optical properties are also analyzed. The optical band gap for Gfs-TiNts is also calculated through tauc-plot method that aided in the requirement for the Photodegradation. At the end, the synthesized nanomaterials were utilized for the photocatlalytic conversion of the Electrochromic Black T-dye (EBT). The synthesized 2-step free standing grassy TiNts resulted in 40% photocatalytic conversion (80 minutes) due to their nanotubular morphology and a lower charge recombination. Thus, the synthesized Gfs-TiNts based nanomaterials can contribute to sustainable environment management through the degradation of various toxic organic dyes.