A simple route to obtain TiO2 nanowires by the sol–gel method

In this work, titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanowires were synthesized by the sol–gel method, without using any kind of templates, instead of that acetic acid was used as morphological modifier. In order to control crystalline phases and crystal size, TiO2 was calcinated at 400, 500 and 600 °C during 1 h. The resulting morphology was nanowires, which diameter was maintained constant after calcination at different temperature (about 76 nm). Moreover, crystalline phases in order of predominance were anatase, anatase–rutile and rutile–anatase at 400, 500 and 600 °C, respectively. Additionally, the crystallite size increases with respect to temperature from 13 to 75 nm.