Synthesis and photocatalytic properties of porous TiO2 films prepared by ODA/sol–gel method

Porous TiO2 films were deposited on SiO2 pre-coated glass-slides by sol–gel method using octadecylamine (ODA) as template. The amount of ODA in the sol played an important role on the physicochemical properties and photocatalytic performance of the TiO2 films. The films prepared at different conditions were all composed of anatase titanium dioxide crystals, and TiO2 crystalline size got larger with increasing ODA amount. The maximum specific surface area of 41.5 m2/g was obtained for TiO2 powders prepared from titanium sol containing 2.0 g ODA. Methyl orange degradation rate was enhanced along with increasing ODA amount and reached the maximal value at 2.0 g addition of ODA. After 40 min of UV-light irradiation, methyl orange degradation rate reached 30.5% on the porous film, which was about 10% higher than that on the smooth film. Porous TiO2 film showed almost constant activity with slight decrease from 30.5% to 28.5% after 4 times of recycles.