The Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activity of Cu-Doped TiO2 Thin Films

Abstract

Thin films of TiO2 and TiO2 doped with Cu were prepared by sol-gel method. The prepared films were calcined at the temperature of 400 °C for 2 h with the heating rate of 10 °C/min. Physical properties as well as crystal compositions of the fabricated films were characterized by XRD, EDX SEM and AFM techniques. The results show that all samples have thickness range from 0.25 to 1.0 um. The film surfaces are typically uniform and dense with TiO2 nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activities of the thin films were also tested via the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution under UV irradiation. Finally, antibacterial activity efficiency was evaluated by the inactivation of E.coli. It was observed that higher Cu concentration gives better photocatalytic activity. With the highest dopant concentration investigated in this experiment (TiO2-1.0Cu condition) the films show photocatalytic of 70 % and antibacterial activity of 100 %.