Facile synthesis of Ag@TiO2 (B) hierarchical core–shell nanowires: facile synthesis, growth mechanism and photocatalytic and antibacterial applications

Core–shell nanostructures are of great scientific and technological importance owing to their enhanced physical and chemical properties. In this work, we report a facile synthesis of unusual Ag/TiO2 (B) hierarchical core–shell nanowires with 200 nm in diameter and tens of micrometers in length for the first time. The hierarchical core–shell nanowires of Ag/TiO2 have been achieved from silver nitrate, tetrabutyl orthotitanate and ethylene glycol via a synergistic soft-hard template method. Each of the hierarchical core–shell nanowires of Ag/TiO2 is comprised of Ag nanowires with 50–70 nm in diameter and sheath comprised of ultrathin nanosheets of monoclinic β-TiO2 with several nanometers in thickness and preferential exposure of (010) facet. Several experimental observations illustrate that temperature and amount of tetrabutyl orthotitanate play key roles in formation of this kind of hierarchical core–shell nanostructures. As expected, the hierarchical core–shell nanostructures exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performance on degradation towards RhB. In particular, the as-prepared Ag/TiO2 core–shell nanowires exhibit superior, durable bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties.