Wetting angles and photocatalytic activities of illuminated TiO2 thin films

Enhanced Photoactivity in Bilayer Films with Buried Rutile–Anatase Heterojunctions

“…However, for d anatase < 200 nm, the activity profiles are different for the SALs and the RABs. In agreement with previous studies, [12,14] the photoactivity of the SALs increases with the thickness. By contrast, the series of RABs present a maximum photoactivity for a d anatase % 130 nm, while the photoactivities for d anatase < 130 nm are always higher for the RABs than for the SALs.…”

“…The experimental setup was specially designed to verify the activity of thin film samples (further information in the Experimental Section). [12] The dye decoloration under these conditions is usually taken as a semiquantitative measurement of the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 systems. [13] Figure 4, top shows the results of the photoactivated decoloration process of methyl orange dye solutions as a function of irradiation time, corrected by the values in a blank experiment without TiO 2 thin films (see the original curves before correction and the equivalent corrected curves for single anatase layers in Figure S1 in the Supporting Information).…”

Supported plasma-made 1D heterostructures: perspectives and applications

“…Thus, former studies have shown that the Ag@TiO 2 nanofibre surfaces described in section 3 are superhydrophobic (water contact angles (WCA) higher than 150º) but can be converted in superhydophilic (water contact angles virtually 0º) by UV light irradiation [69]. Changes in WCAs when TiO 2 and other oxides are subjected to UV irradiation are generally attributed to reversible modifications in the surface hydroxylation state and/or the removal by photo-oxidation of surface carbonaceous species [70]. The implications of this behaviour for microfiltration and, in general, microfluidic are obvious [71,72].…”

Surface nanostructuring ofTiO2thin films by high energy ion irradiation

“…[1][2][3][4] Furthermore, photoactive properties of this oxide under light irradiation has fostered new and interesting applications in the field of photocatalysis, selfcleaning materials or photovoltaic cells, all of them actively investigated during the last years. 5 For these applications, it was found that the anatase crystalline phase is especially adequate to optimize many of the previous properties, and that its performance clearly improves when the film surface is nanostructured 6 and/or when it is doped with nitrogen to shift its spectral response from the ultraviolet toward the visible light spectrum. 7,8 The development of reliable techniques for surface nanostructuring of thin films is nowadays a key issue that has been approached by different physical and chemical methods.…”