A facile approach for decorating quantum dots deep inside of anodically grown self-organized TiO2 nanotubes

Abstract

We demonstrate here a simple but very effective approach to decorate anodically grown TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) uniformly with CdS and PbS quantum dots (QDs) deep inside the NT walls. This approach is based on SILAR (successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction) technique assisted with evacuation of the NTs. The basic idea of evacuation is to remove air pockets trapped inside the NTs so as to clear the passage for the penetration of QD precursors down the bottom of the NTs. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim