Preparation and characterization of titania thin films

TiO2 sol with steady suspension and high photocatalytic activity was prepared via a precipitation-peptization method. The XRD results indicate that the TiO2 sol exhibited an anatase structure. TiO2 films on woven fabrics (carbon, PET and Nylon), prepared via dip-coating with TiO2 sol, were characterized by XRD and SEM analysis. The dependence of the woven fabrics properties on the amount of TiO2 coated and photocatalytic activity were also studied. When the diameter of fibers is smalle, large quantity of TiO2 is coated on woven fabrics leading to an improvement in the photocatalytic activity. It is observed that the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 film coated on woven fabrics exceeds that of TiO2 film coated on common glass substrate with the same surface area.