We explored widely the anodization of metals e.g. Ti in
electrolytes based on molten ortho-phosphoric acid (o-H3PO4) to
produce one-dimensional (1D) oxide nanostructures.[1] Such
molten electrolytes enable under optimized electrochemical
conditions the growth of arrays of semiconductive metal oxide
nanocavity[1,2] or nanotubular structures[3,4] featuring an
unprecedented degree of self-ordering. The oxide nanocavity
morphology can be fully adjusted in terms of length, opening
diameter and wall thickness. Such defined and ordered oxide
morphology was found crucial to design functional metal/oxide
nanostructured platforms by templated dewetting, i.e. to form
arrays of particle-in-cavity for advanced photocatalysis.[1,2,5]
Some literature citations:
[1] J. E. Yoo, K. Lee, M. Altomare, E. Selli, P. Schmuki, Angew.
Chemie Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 7514.
[2] M. Altomare, N. T. Nguyen, P. Schmuki, Chem. Sci. 2016, 7,
6865.
[3] M. Altomare, O. Pfoch, A. Tighineanu, R. Kirchgeorg, K. Lee,
E. Selli, P. Schmuki, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 5646.
[4] M. Altomare, G. Cha, P. Schmuki, Electrochim. Acta 2020,
344, 136158.
[5] N. T. Nguyen, M. Altomare, J. Yoo, P. Schmuki, Adv. Mater.
2015, 27, 3208.