FillingofTiO2NanotubesbySelf-DopingandElectrodeposition.pdfVIP

DOI: 10.1002/adma.200602549 Filling of TiO2 Nanotubes by Self-Doping and Electrodeposition** By Jan M. Macak, Bin G. Gong, Michael Hueppe, and Patrik Schmuki* The discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991[1] initiated large and continuously increasing research interest in one dimen- sional (1D) materials due to their intriguing possibilities for fundamental studies of nanoscale well-defined structures, and their high potential for technological applications. Nowadays, 1D materials and nanomaterials are studied not only for carbon, but also for a variety of metals and oxides. Recently, self-organized high aspect ratio TiO2 nanotubular structures formed by electrochemical anodization[2–5] have been reported that offer a unique combination of wide band- gap semiconductor properties with a high surface area and precisely controlled morphology. These feature make these structures promising for direct applications in photocatalytic[6] and solar energy conversion.[7] However, to access the full range of applications including solid state solar cells,[8] or magnetic nanowire structures,[9] it is essential to deposit a secondary material into the tubes. For the “sister-material”, porous alumina,[10] successful electrodeposition approaches of metal,[11,12] or semiconductor[13] filling have been developed— leading to a plethora of functional composite structures applicable for example in magnetic sensors,[14] photodetector arrays[13] and solar cells.[15] For Al2O3 the most successful fill- ing approach[12] is based on electrodeposition by current or voltage pulses sufficiently high to trigger a high and stable nucleation rate at the pore bottom, but sufficiently short to avoid diffusion control of the deposition reaction.[12] How- ever, adopting this strikingly simple approach to TiO2 nano- tube layers fails due to the semiconductive nature of TiO2 and electric leakage in these layers (illustrated in the Supporting Information S1). Here we demonstrate a novel and successful fillin