Surface modified nanostructured-TiO2 thin films for removal of Congo red

Abstract

We synthesized nanostructured TiO2 thin films by the modified sol-gel template method using the polyethylene glycol as filler media. The TiO2 surface modification for both the thin films, i.e., template and non-template, was done with the ascorbic acid. All the four thin film samples, S1 (TiO2 (non-template), TiO2 (template), S3 (S1 modified with ascorbic acid) and S4 (S2 modified with ascorbic acid), were characterized by various analytical methods. Phase evaluation was monitored by the X-Ray diffraction analysis. Moreover, the thin films particle sizes were obtained to be 22.32, 21.20, 14.52 and 16.77 nm, respectively for the samples S1, S2, S3 and S4. The changes in particle size and morphology due to the PEG and ascorbic acid were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Similarly, thermal gravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were performed to determine the decomposition behavior of organic compound present in the solid samples. The functional groups were determined by infrared (IR) analysis. The photocatalytic efficiency, as a reference of Congo red, was conducted using all the four samples of TiO2 thin films. Complete photocatalytic degradation of Congo red was achieved by these samples within 130, 80, 40 and 30 mins of UV illumination.