(1) Despite the fact that titanium hydroxide is insoluble in basic aqueous solution, we were successfully prepared transparent basic aqueous sols of colloidal titanate nanosheet crystals. Moreover, titanium oxide nanocrystals and thin films with various nanostructures were synthesized using the titanate nanosheets as a building block. For example, star-shaped aggregates of titanium oxide nanocrystals with a 6-fold symmetry were obtained (Figure 1), although anatase has a tetragonal lattice. Furthermore, my current interests are a simple and convenient synthesis method of titanate nanosheets by exfoliating the layered titanate crystals.

(2) The fabrication of oriented zeolite films was investigated by the secondary growth method. Zeolite crystals were applied with their channels normal to the substrate surface, as shown in Figure 2. Then, zeolite films were fabricated by growing the applied crystals.

So, I expect that such nanostructures would provide interesting and novel properties.

• Outline
• Messages from Students
• Staff