TiO2 nanosheet array thin film for self-cleaning coating

Abstract

A simple hydrothermal method is developed to directly grow TiO₂ nanosheets on a bare glass substrate. By tuning the reaction conditions, the thickness of the TiO₂ nanosheet layer can be tuned from tens to hundreds of nanometers. This TiO₂ nanosheet layer exhibits good transparency due to the air pocket existing inside the thin film layer between nanosheets. On the other hand, the TiO₂ layer has a good hydrophilic surface and good wettability, especially under UV light illumination. The degradation of dye (rhodamine B) results indicate that the TiO₂ nanosheet coating has excellent photocatalytic activity. All these results demonstrate that the TiO₂ nanosheet coating could be a highly transparent self-cleaning coating.