Abstract
Titanate nanotubes prepared by a hydrothermal process in an alkali solution are promising for environmental and energy applications. A serious (but not-widely-recognized) problem of titanate nanotubes for potential device applications is their strong agglomeration (or even aggregation), which disturb thin-film processing in nanometer order thickness. The objective of this study is to demonstrate how the agglomerates/aggregates behave in an actual wet thin-film process, i.e., spray Layer-by-Layer (spray LbL) coating process. Under acidic (pH=2) and stirred conditions, apparently-dispersed titanate nanotube suspension actually contained plenty of micrometer-sized agglomerates/aggregates. The formation of the large agglomerates/aggregates disturbs the spray LbL process, suggesting an alternative dispersion method is necessary for wet processes of titanate nanotubes.
