Effect of anodizing time on the structural color and photocatalytic properties of the TiO2 films formed by electrochemical method

Abstract

Environmentally friendly materials are gaining more and more importance day by day. Structural colored materials without chemical pigments have become popular in this respect. It was aimed to produce structurally colored, photocatalytic TiO2 film coatings on the Titanium substrates using the anodizing method. Since the TiO2 structure, which has photocatalytic properties, is not covered with any coating such as paint, the function of cleaning the environment with solar energy is preserved. The crystallite sizes of the anatase and rutile phases were found between 22.18 and 22.18 nm. The highest photocatalytic efficiency was obtained at the sample anodized for 60 s with 60% efficiency. The surface morphologies of the samples were transformed into a worm-like morphology after anodization for 600 s. These regular indentations of the worm-like structure create extra coherent light scattering in the red region, similar to the photonic crystal surfaces. So, the main outcome is that the obtained colors can be controlled by Photonic Crystal morphologies. Also, extremely eco-friendly, multifunctional TiO2 film coatings with both structural color and photocatalytic properties were obtained.