A novel hydrothermal method to synthesize brookite titanium dioxide nanosquares for efficient pollutant degradation

Abstract Brookite TiO2 nanopsquares were synthesized by using a mixture of TiBALDH and TiOCl2 and low-temperature hydrothermal method at 150℃. The process does not need any template, organic additive, or organic solvent. It is proved to be a clean, simple, time-saving, and mild reaction condition route to prepare brookite TiO2 nanopsquares. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) prove that a pure brookite TiO2 nanosquares with mean edge length of ∼51 nm were successfully prepared. The obtained brookite nanosquares show outstanding photoactivity toward the decomposition of Rhodamine B in water under UV light irradiation which is even better than Degussa P25.