Preparation and Characterization of Innate Super-Hydrophilic TiO₂/SiO₂ Thin Films

Abstract:

Unlike photo-induced super-hydrophilic inorganic thin films, non-photoinduced innate super-hydrophilic TiO₂/SiO₂ thin films have been successfully prepared in this work. SiO₂/TiO₂ thin films were prepared by solgel method via adding hydrophilic fumed silica to TiO₂ sol and characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact angle meter. The results show that the super-hydrophilicity of the as-prepared thin films can maintain for one month without light irradiation, and the thin films have excellent antifogging property as well.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 743-744)
• Pages: 372-376
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.743-744.372
• Online since: January 2013
• Authors: Huan Yang, Kai Bo Shen, Jian Liu, Wei Wang, Yue Huang, Zhong Hua Zhou, Shirley Shen
• Keywords: Antifogging, Nnate Super-Hydrophilicity, TiO₂/SiO₂ Thin Films

References

[1] R. Wang, K. Hashimoto, A. Fujishima, Light-induced amphiphilic surfaces, Nature 388 (1997) 431-432.

DOI: 10.1038/41233

[2] R. Wang, K. Hashimoto, A. Fujishima, M. Chikuni, E. Kojima, A. Kitamura et al., Photogeneration of highly amphiphilic TiO2 surfaces, Adv. Mater. 10 (1998) 135-138.

DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1521-4095(199801)10:2<135::aid-adma135>3.0.co;2-m

[3] N. Sakai, R. Wang, A. Fujishima, T. Watanabe, K. Hashimoto, Effect of ultrasonic treatment on highly hydrophilic TiO2 surfaces, Langmuir 14 (1998) 5918-5920.

DOI: 10.1021/la980623e

[4] R. Wang, N. Sakai, A. Fujishima, T. Watanabe, K. Hashimoto, Studies of surface wettability conversion on TiO2 single-crystal surfaces, J. Phys. Chem. B 103 (1999) 2188-2194.

DOI: 10.1021/jp983386x

[5] M. Miyauchi, A. Nakajima, A. Fujishima, K. Hashimoto, T. Watanabe, Photoinduced surface reactions on TiO2 and SrTiO3 films  photocatalytic oxidation and photoinduced hydrophilicity, Chem. Mater. 12 (2000) 3-5.

DOI: 10.1021/cm990556p

[6] R.D. Sun, A. Nakajima, A. Fujishima, T. Watanabe, K. Hashimoto, Photoinduced surface wettability conversion of ZnO and TiO2 thin films, J. Phys. Chem. B 108 (2001) 1984-(1990).

DOI: 10.1021/jp002525j

[7] X.J. Feng, L. Feng, M.H. Jin, J. Zhai, L. Jiang, D.B. Zhu, Reversible super-hydrophobicity to super-hydrophilicity transition of aligned ZnO nanorod films, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126 (2004) 62-63.

DOI: 10.1021/ja038636o

[8] W.Y. Gan, S.W. Lam, K. Chiang, R. Amal, H.J. Zhao, M.P. Brungs, Novel TiO2 thin film with non-UV activated superwetting and antifogging behaviours, J. Mater. Chem. 17 (2007) 952-954.

DOI: 10.1039/b618280a

[9] D. Lee, M.F. Rubner, R.E. Cohen, All-nanoparticle thin-film coatings, Nano letters 6 (2006) 2305-2312.

DOI: 10.1021/nl061776m

[10] N. Sasirekha, B. Rajesh, Y.W. Chen, Synthesis of TiO2 sol in a neutral solution using TiCl4 as a precursor and H2O2 as an oxidizing agent, Thin Solid Films 518 (2009) 43-48.

DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2009.06.015

[11] X.L. Cui, J. Shen, D.S. Ren, X.L. Yang, Z.Y. Jiang, The mechanism of hydrophilic surface of TiO2 thin films induced by heat and light, Chemistry 3 (2003) 203-206.

[12] F.C. Cebeci, Z.Z. Wu, L. Zhai, R.E. Cohen, M.F. Rubner, Nanoporosity-driven superhydrophilicity: a means to create multifunctional antifogging coatings, Langmuir 22 (2006) 2856-2862.

DOI: 10.1021/la053182p

[13] R.N. Wenzel, Resistance of solid surfaces to wetting by water, Ind. Eng. Chem. 28 (1936) 988-994.

DOI: 10.1021/ie50320a024