Growth of titanium oxide nanorods

Nanorods of titanium oxide (TiO/sub 2/) were obtained by thermally activated growth process carried out on pellets of nanocrystalline powder with mixed anatase and rutile structures. The nanostructured array consists of nanorods with length between 300 nm and I /spl mu/m and hexagonal cross section of 100-200 nm diameter. Herein it is shown that one can obtain information on the nanostructure growth from cathodoluminescence emission spectra. The growth process of the rods is mainly associated with the presence of the anatase phase. The key role of characteristic defects in semiconductor oxides, namely oxygen vacancies and Ti/sup n+/ ions is discussed.