In situ epitaxial growth of TiO2 on RuO2 nanorods with reactive sputtering

In this work, TiO2 deposition on RuO2 nanorods with reactive sputtering was studied. The TiO2 deposition was performed in situ after the RuO2 nanorod deposition at the same substrate temperature of 450 °C. The morphology examination and structure analysis have indicated a uniform and pure rutile TiO2 deposition on RuO2 nanorods. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images also revealed an epitaxial growth of TiO2 on RuO2 nanorods. Such a low-temperature fabrication technique for one-dimensional (1D) heteronanostructure may apply to other functional materials. Since RuO2 is a good electric conductor, 1D heteronanostructures made from RuO2 nanorods are expected to exhibit enhanced functionality particularly in electrical and electrochemical applications.