Electrophoretic deposition of uniformly distributed TiO₂nanoparticles using an anodic aluminum oxide template for efficient photolysis

Abstract

In this study, a novel method for fabricating a high efficiency titanium dioxide photocatalyst is presented. Radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering was employed to grow 3D nano-structured Au thin films using the barrier-layer side of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) as the template. The template was prepared by immersing this side of an AAO film into a 30 wt% phosphoric acid solution to modify the surface of the barrier layer in such a manner that a contrasting surface was obtained. The electrophoretic deposition method was then implemented to uniformly deposit TiO(2) nanoparticles on the 3D nano-structured Au electrode. The efficiency of the proposed photocatalyst, in terms of the photolysis efficiency, was measured using proton-motive-force driving chloroplastmimic photovoltaics. Experiments were carried out to demonstrate the photolysis efficiency of the proposed 3D nano-structured TiO(2) photocatalyst, which showed a 10-fold increase over that of Degussa P25 plane TiO(2). The photocurrent could be further enhanced by the deposition of a sensitized dye, such as N3, which extended the absorption spectrum from the UV range to the visible light range.

Sulfur-Modulated Tin Sites Enable Highly Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Formate

“…Electrophoretic deposition was implemented to uniformly deposit Sn NPs on nanostructured Au electrode. 34,46,47 Specially, 10 mg/L Sn NPs in ethanol were placed in the ultrasonic bath for 50 min and centrifuged for 30 min at 4,000 rpm to remove large NPs from the suspension. Finally, a DC power supply of 20 V was applied for 20 min to deposit Sn NPs ( Figure S7).…”

Photocatalytic Nanocomposite Films Fabricated by Layer‐by‐Layer Self‐assembly of TiO2 Nanoparticles and Lignosulfonates

“…Thin films of titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) have many useful optical and chemical properties, such as high refractive index, high chemical stability, excellent photocatalytic ability to break down organisms or bacterial under even indoor room lighting conditions, etc. These properties make them useful in many applications in optics, [1] solar cells, [2][3][4][5][6] sensor [7] and microorganism photolysis, [8] and so on. In recent years, the photocatalytic properties of TiO 2 films have attracted considerable attentions because TiO 2 possess the best photocatalytic activity compared to other materials.…”

Synthesizing high aspect ratio Aluminum Oxide nanowires from highly-ordered anodic self-assembled templates

“…), which make them suitable for micro-electronic device applications . Although, synthesizing the Aluminum Oxide nanostructures in large volume for industrial applications, due to their expensive and time consuming production methods such as: chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques or electrophoretic based methods [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], limited their application for opteoelectronic devices or water purification technologies. On the other hand, novel fabrication techniques such as electrochemical anodization methods have shown more accurate controllability over materials morphology and chemical composition of nanostructures in comparison to conventional production techniques as well as their easier scalability for industrial applications [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52].…”