Abstract: Controlling of morphology from nanoparticles to magnetic nanotubes and hollow nanorods
are interesting for developing the photo-active materials and their applications in the field of photocatalysis
and decontamination of aquatic effluents. In the current study, titanium dioxide nanoparticles
and nanocomposites were prepared by different techniques to produce various morphologies.
The nanoparticles of pure titanium dioxide were prepared by sol-gel technique. Magnetic nanotubes
and hollow nanorods were prepared by combining titanium with di- and tri-valent iron through two
stages: urea hydrolysis and solvent thermal technique. According to the Kirkendall effect, magnetic
nanotubes were fabricated by unequal diffusion of Fe2+, Fe3+ and Ti4+ inside the nanocomposite
to produce maghemite-titanian phase. In the same trend, hollow nanorods were synthesized by
limited diffusion of both trivalent iron and tetravalent titanium producing amorphous structure of
titanium iron oxides. The magnetic and optical properties showed that these nanotubes and hollow
nanorods are magnetically active and optically more effective compared with titanium dioxide
nanoparticles. Therefore, the Naphthol green B dye completely disappeared after 45 min of UV light
irradiation in presence of the hollow nanorods. The kinetic study confirmed the high performance of
the hollow nanorods for the photocatalytic degradation of Naphthol green B compared with titanium
dioxide nanoparticles.