In this paper, TiO 2-SiO 2-In 2 O 3 nano layer thin films were deposited on glass substrate using sol-gel dip coating method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and water contact angle measurements were used to evaluate chemical structure, surface composition, hydroxyl group contents and superhydrophilicity of titania films. FTIR result indicated that Si-O-Si, Si-O-Ti and Ti-O-Ti bands formed in TiO 2-SiO 2-In 2 O 3 sample. According to XPS, the hydroxyl content for TiO 2 , TiO 2-SiO 2 and TiO 2-SiO 2-In 2 O 3 films was calculated as 11•6, 17•1 and 20•7%, respectively. The water contact angle measurements indicated that silica and indium oxide dopant improved the superhydrophilicity of titania nano film surface especially in a dark place. The enhanced superhydrophilicity can be related to the generation of surface acidity on the titania nano film surfaces. In the present state, superhydrophilicity is induced by the simultaneous presence of both Lewis and Bronsted sites.

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In this research, a TiO 2 -activated carbon nano-composite was prepared by a sol-gel method and characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, FTIR, BET surface area, photoluminescence spectroscopy and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the nano-composite was evaluated through degradation of reactive red 198 (RR 198) under UV light, and was compared to unsupported TiO 2 . The XRD result indicated that the TiO 2 nano-composite contained only anatase phase. The surface area of the TiO 2 increased from 48 to 100 m 2 /g through the fabrication of the nano-composite. The photocatalytic results indicated that the RR 198 was decolorized around 42 and 38 % during a 210-min irradiation period in the presence of nano-composite and TiO 2 , respectively. It means that nano-composite enhanced the photocatalytic activity of the TiO 2 nanoparticles. After 20 h of irradiation in the presence of the nano-composite, 97 % of RR 198 had degraded.