Nanostructured titanium dioxide film preparation using inorganic nanoparticles instead of organic precursor materials.

A Jamali,M H Eghbali

doi:10.29105/qh1.4-132

Abstract

Carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming. A promising method of reducing the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is by photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into renewable fuels, which has to be done using a photocatalytic film. The nanostructured film preparation method proposed in this study is a preparation of colloidal solution followed by film deposition using manual coating methods, mostly vertical dip-coating. Deposited films were calcined to forma crystalline film on the glass substrate. This method was adopted in case of film preparation from titanium dioxide. Comprehensive study on impact of different factors including temperature, type of surfactants, type of solvents, concentration of surfactants, and concentration of solvents on quality of thin film including band gap, particle size, strength and homogeneity was performed in this work. Material characterisation tests including UV-visible spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy were carried out to analyse the film characteristics. Mechanical tests including wipe test, rinse test, acetone test, scratch test and scotch tape test were performed to analyse the mechanical strength of obtained thin film. Nanostructured films were successfully prepared with controlled particle size in the range of 70 - 100 nm for TiO2. Films obtained in this study demonstrate acceptable durability and partial uniformity. The film preparation method used in this study was markedly economical, facile and reproducible.

Highlights

Nanostructured thin films of titanium dioxide have many important applications including photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide into renewable fuels
Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to renewable fuels is one method to reduce in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration
In most of the previous researches, particles have been mainly utilized as photocatalysts, applying photoelectrodes or photonanostructured films may improve the efficiency of photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide

Summary

Introduction

Nanostructured thin films of titanium dioxide have many important applications including photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide into renewable fuels. In order to examine the effect of surfactant types on obtained thin films, different samples were prepared as follows.In ali forms of experiments carried out, certain amounts ofTiO 2as can be seen in table 1,have been measured using the digital lab scale. Manual vertical dip coating was carried out for film to be formed over the glass substrate.

Results

Conclusion