Highly ordered monolayer/bilayer TiO2 hollow sphere films with widely tunable visible-light reflection and absorption bands

Monolayer and bilayer TiO2 hollow hemisphere/sphere (THH/THS) films consisting of highly ordered hexagonal-patterned THHs/THSs with thin shells of ~10 nm and different diameters of ~170 and ~470 nm have been prepared by templating of two-dimensional polystyrene sphere (PS) assembly films coupled with TiO2 sputtering/wet coating approaches. Owing to their precisely adjustable structural parameters, such as THH/THS shape and diameter as well as film layer thickness, the prepared THH/THS films exhibit widely tunable visible-light reflection and absorption bands, i.e. from 380 to 850 nm for reflection and 390 to 520 nm for absorption, respectively. The mechanism of the novel optical behaviors of the THH/THS films has been discussed in depth, combined with some calculations according to Bragg's law. In addition, photocatalytic experiments of RhB degradation employing the THH/THS films as recyclable catalysts have been conducted. The THH/THS films with controlled structures and precisely tunable optical properties are attractive for a wide range of applications, such as recyclable catalysts for photocatalysis, efficient oxide electrodes or scattering layers for solar cells, gas-permeable electrode materials for high-performance sensors and so on.