Morphology and natural wettability properties of sol–gel derived TiO2–SiO2 composite thin films

Previous studies suggest that granular interfaces induce a natural and persistent super-hydrophilicity in TiO2–SiO2 composite thin films deposited by sol–gel route. This effect enables to consider self-cleaning applications that do not require a permanent UV exposure, whereas such a permanent exposure is necessary for pure TiO2 films. In this study, TiO2–SiO2 composite thin films have been deposited from a TiO2 anatase crystalline suspension and different SiO2 polymeric sols. Wettability studies show that a suitable control of the TiO2–SiO2 mixed sol formulations noticeably enhances persistence of the natural super-hydrophilicity in composite films. It is shown that, beside granular interface effects, modifications in the composite film morphologies can noticeably influence wettability properties.