Engineering growth of TiO2 nanofibers on NiO–Ni foam with cleaning and separation functions

Abstract

Through the precoating of TiO₂ on Ni foam and the subsequent hydrothermal reaction of the coated species with NaOH and tetrabutyl titanate, we successfully demonstrated the engineered growth of TiO₂ nanofibers on the NiO–Ni foam. The adsorption and photodecomposition of Rhodamine B in water showed that the resulting foam is very convenient for the purification of contaminated water. Selective permeability of Au nanoparticles of different sizes revealed that the modified foam possesses size-dependent separation functionality.