Premium
TiO 2 Thin Film with Varied Porous Structure Applied on the Degradation of Methylene Blue
Author(s) -
Wang ShengHung,
Wang KuoHua,
Jehng JihMirn
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of the chinese chemical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.329
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 2192-6549
pISSN - 0009-4536
DOI - 10.1002/jccs.201300290
Subject(s) - polyethylene glycol , methylene blue , chemistry , peg ratio , porosity , photocatalysis , thin film , degradation (telecommunications) , chemical engineering , irradiation , sol gel , nuclear chemistry , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , materials science , catalysis , physics , finance , computer science , nuclear physics , engineering , economics , telecommunications
In this study, porous TiO 2 thin films were prepared by the sol‐gel method employing polyethylene glycol 1000 (PEG 1000) as an organic template. Pore sizes were adjusted by varying the concentration of PEG 1000. The optimal PEG concentration range required to form TiO 2 films with a regular porous structure was investigated and was found to be 0.01–0.015 M. As the PEG 1000 concentration increased, the surface of these films became rougher because of larger pores. Degradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation was used to determine the photocatalytic activity of the films. In addition, the effect of the pH value of the MB solution on the films was evaluated by controlling its pH value at 5, 7, and 9. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity was correlated to the pore size and pore density of the thin films. TiO2 thin films possessing pore sizes in the diameter range of 35–85 nm exhibited the best conversion of 98% after 8 h of UV irradiation when the pH value was 7.