Effect of Addition of Surfactant to the Surface Hydrophilicity and Photocatalytic Activity of Immobilized Nano-TiO2 Thin Films

摘要

We study the effect of adding cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) as a surfactant to titanium dioxide (TiO2) solution for immobilizing TiO2 on glass substrates. The thin films are deposited by the dip-coating technique. After dipping into the TiO2 sol, the films are calcined and a pure anatase crystal phase is obtained. The thickness of the thin film is changed by varying the number of the dip-and-calcine cycles. The prepared films are characterized using FE-SEM, TG-DTA, and XRD, and samples' photocatalytic performances are tested with regard to the degradation of methylene blue dye. Aside from the photocatalytic performance, the photoinduced hydrophilicity of thin TiO2 films surface is also studied.