Open AccessA Microfluidic Device Based on Plasma Nitrided Self-Organized TiO2 Nanotubes for Photocatalytic Reduction Study
Author(s) -
Thiago Scremin Bonelli,
I. Pereyra
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
jics. journal of integrated circuits and systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.125
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1872-0234
pISSN - 1807-1953
DOI - 10.29292/jics.v13i3.11
Subject(s) - materials science , nitriding , photocatalysis , microchannel , anodizing , nanotechnology , microfluidics , optoelectronics , chemical engineering , composite material , catalysis , layer (electronics) , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering , aluminium
Nitrided TiO2 nanotubes and PDMS microchannel were assembled in a photocatalytic device for organic dyes photo-degradation studies. By integrating a PDMS microchannel with the nitrided TiO2 nanotubes array, a microfluidic photocatalytic device was obtained and characterized by morphological, chemical, and physical points of view. The fabrication process allows an easy integration of the obtained nitrided TiO2 nanotubes with a microchannel into a microfluidic device for pollutant photo-degradation. The high surface-to-volume ratio intrinsic of nanotubes structures has functional properties for harvesting light and is responsible for part of the interesting photocatalytic device performance. Another great advantage of nitrided TiO2 nanotubes compared to just TiO2 nanotubes, is the lower gap of 2.80 eV achieved by plasma nitriding processes in PECVD reactor, which leads to a 14% increase in the photocatalytic response to sun light. As a consequence, the methylene blue reduction efficiency of the microfluidic device fabricated with nitrided TiO2 nanotubes increased 13% compared to that with just anodized TiO2 nanotubes.