LAUSR

Abstract The 3D nanostructure rutile TiO 2 photocatalyst was rapidly synthesized by dealloying method using Cu 60 Ti 30 Y 10 amorphous ribbons as precursors. The preparation period was kept down to just 3 h, which is much shorter than those of the samples by dealloying Cu 60 Ti 30 Al 10 , Cu 70 Ti 30 and Cu 60 Ti 30 Sn 10 . The synthesized sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XRD and XPS reveal the successful synthesis of rutile TiO 2 . The SEM and TEM images show that the synthesized rutile TiO 2 nano-material presents homogeneous distributed 3D nanoflowers structure, which is composed of large quantities of fine rice-like nanorods (40–150 nm in diameter and 100–250 nm in length). BET specific surface areas of the samples were investigated by N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, the fabricated rutile TiO 2 exhibits very high specific surface area (194.08 m 2 /g). The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by degrading rhodamine B (RhB) dye (10 mg/L) under the irradiation of both simulated visible light (λ > 420 nm) and ultraviolet (UV) light (λ = 365 nm). The results show that the photocatalytic activity of rutile TiO 2 prepared by dealloying Cu 60 Ti 30 Y 10 amorphous ribbons is higher than those of commercial rutile and the sample synthesized by dealloying Cu 70 Ti 30 precursors. The advantages of both short preparation period and superior photocatalytic activity suggest that Cu 60 Ti 30 Y 10 metallic glasses are really a kind of perfect titanium source for rapidly fabricating high efficient TiO 2 nano-materials. In addition, the influence of chemical composition of the amorphous precursors on preparation period of the rutile TiO 2 nano-material was investigated from the point of view of standard electrode potentials.