Effect of calcinations temperature on microstructures, photocatalytic activity and self-cleaning property of TiO2and SnO2/TiO2thin films prepared by sol-gel dip coating process

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the effect of calcinations temperature on phase transformation, crystallite size, morphology, photocatalytic activity and self-cleaning properties of TiO 2 and SnO 2 /TiO 2 thin films. The thin films were preparation by sol-gel dip coating process and calcinations at the temperature of 500 °C, 600 °C and 700 °C for 2 h with the heating rate of 10 °C/mim. The microstructures of the fabricated thin films were characterized by XRD and SEM techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the thin films was also tested via the degradation of methylene blue solution under UV irradiation. Finally, self-cleaning properties of thin films were evaluated by measuring the contact angle of water droplet on the thin films with and without UV irradiation. It was found that SnO 2 /TiO 2 thin films calcinations at the temperature of 500 °C shows the highest of photocatalytic activity and self-cleaning properties.