Effect of SnO<sub>2</sub> Addition into TiO<sub>2</sub> Thin Films on Photocatalytic Activity and Hydrophilic Property

Abstract

The pure TiO2 and SnO2-TiO2 thin films on glass substrate were fabricated using a sol-gel dip coating technique. The thin films were annealed at the temperature of 700 °C for 2 h with the heating rate of 10 °C/min. The microstructures of the fabricated thin films were characterized by SEM and XRD techniques. The photocatalytic activities of the thin films were also tested by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution under UV irradiation. Finally, hydrophilic or 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 1 %mol SnO2-TiO2 thin films shows the highest of photocatalytic activity and provide the most self-cleaning properties.