Effect_of_urface_structure_TiO2.doc

Thin Solid Films 379 2000. 7]14 Effect of surface structure on photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 thin films prepared by sol-gel method Jiaguo YuU, Xiujian Zhao, Qingnan Zhao State Key Laboratory of Ad¨anced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan Uni¨ersity of Technology, Wuhan 430070, PR China Received 29 September 1999; received in revised form 29 June 2000; accepted 24 August 2000 Abstract TiO 2 thin films with different surface structures are prepared from alkoxide solutions containing polyethylene glycol PEG . via the sol-gel method. The effects of PEG addition to the precursor solution on the surface structures and photocatalytic activity of the resultant thin films are studied. The larger the amount of PEG added to the precursor solution, the larger the size and number of pores produced in the resultant films when PEG added to the gel films decomposed completely during heat-treatment. The adsorbed hydroxyl content of such porous thin films is found to increase with increasing amount of PEG. However, the transmittance of the films decreases due to the scattering of light by pores of larger size and bigger number in the films. Photocatalytic degradation experiments show that methyl orange is efficiently decolorized in the presence of the TiO 2 thin films by exposing its aqueous solution to ultraviolet light and the suitable surface structures remarkably enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 films. Q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Titanium oxide; Coatings; Catalysis; X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS.  1. Introduction Environmental purification using TiO 2 photocata-lysts has attracted a great deal of attention with the increasing number of recent environmental problems in society w1x. Recently, the application has been focused on purification and treatment of water and air, which are concerned in the protection of the environ-ment, such as nature and life space. However, the u