A simple method to fabricate metal doped TiO2 nanotubes

Abstract

A simple electrochemical method for effective doping of TiO2 nanotubes with metals is presented here. The doping is done in a two-stage cost effective process and is found to result in uniform doping concentration, without any surface layer formation, in the nanotubes. Detailed structural, compositional, optical and electrical analyses are done on the nanotubes doped with copper metal. The cu metal doping is found to produce tuning of the electrical and optical properties. The doped tubes with increased conductivity are better suited in dye sensitized solar cells (dsscs) whereas enhanced visible light absorbing capacity makes them better candidates for photocatalytic applications. Further the success of this method in doping TiO2 nanotubes with any metal of choice is demonstrated by testing aluminum metal doping in the nanotubes.