Controllable synthesis of TiO2 nanomaterials by assisting with l-cysteine and ethylenediamine

This paper reports a facile l-cysteine-assisted solvothermal synthesis of TiO2 nanomaterials using ethylenediamine (En) and distilled water as solvent. The influence of reaction time, temperature, l-cysteine and solvent was initially investigated. Results demonstrated the reaction temperature, l-cysteine and En significantly imposed impact on the phase and morphology of the particles. Amorphous nanosheets, mixed-crystal nanorods and pure anatase nanoparticles were controllably synthesized by varying reaction temperature. The formation of the amorphous nanosheets and mixed-crystal nanorods were directly affected by the presence of l-cysteine and En. And the presence of En distinctly affected the crystal phase of the products, which was rarely mentioned in other studies. Moreover, the photocatalytic activities of three typical samples were excellent. The possible formation mechanism of the sample was also discussed. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.