Abstract: Anodization of titanium in a fluorinated glycerol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and H2O electrolyte was investigated. The prepared anodic filmhad a highly ordered nanotube-array surface architecture with 0.4 to 1.5 μm tube length. Field emission scanning electron microscopy(FESEM) technique had been used to characterize the morphology of TiO2 nanotubes. The result showed that voltage and the volume ratio of DMSO to H2O were important factors to control the appearance and sizes of the TiO2 nanotube arrays. The average pore size increased with increasing anodizing voltage and decreasing the volume ratio of DMSO to H2O. And tube length increased with increasing anodizing voltage and the volume ratio of DMSO to H2O. A possible growth mechanism for the nanotubes formation had been proposed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique had been used to characterize the phase of TiO2 nanotubes. It was showed that the TiO2 structure depends on the heating condition. Amorphous phase was found at room temperature, the anatase phase was the predominant phase at 350 ℃, and with further heating to 550 ℃ the coexistence of rutile phase with anatase phase could be seen. Moreover the photoelectrochemical response of the nanotube-array photoeledtrode was studied using a 1 mol·L-1 KOH solution under UV illumination.

Key words: Titanium oxide nanotube-array, Anodic oxidation, Glycerol-DMSO-H2O electrolyte, Photocurrent density