Effect of nanostructured titanium on anodization growth of self-organized TiO2 nanotubes

To understand the effect of substrate microstructure on the formation of TiO2 nanotubes, anodic oxidizations of commercially pure titanium subjected to surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMATed-Ti) and unSMATed-Ti in a glycol solution containing NH4F and small amounts of water were investigated. The SMATed-Ti exhibit a nanocrystallized surface layer containing a high density of grain boundaries compared with unSMATed-Ti. The anodization results show that the formed TiO2 nanotube layer on the SMATed-Ti is much thicker than that on the unSMATed-Ti. It is indicated that nanocrystallized Ti is propitious to the growth of TiO2 nanotubes; grain boundaries and dislocations play the leading role in accelerating the reaction rate and ion diffusion coefficient during anodization. In addition, nanocrystallization of Ti does not change surface morphologies and phase components of the TiO2 nanotubes.