Abstract
The effect of NaOH-etching and UVC-irradiation on the mechanical stability of TiO2 nanoparticles on polycarbonate (PC) slides was investigated. TiO2 nanoparticles were found to adhere more strongly on UVC-treated PC than NaOH-etched PC, caused by the increase in the hydroxyl and carboxyl groups on the UVC-treated PC. Although a mechanically strong TiO2 film was developed on UVC-treated PC, the sheet-like wetting effect and antifogging behaviour were only observed with the film coated on NaOH-etched PC. It was also detected that the film coated onto NaOH-etched PC exhibited a more superior performance in degrading methylene blue than that in the UVC-treated PC system. Evidences from the FTIR and AFM analyses indicated that the performance of TiO2 films was strongly depended on the leaching rate of PEG.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials for funding this work. The author (Arman Soetanto) would also like to thank the Faculty of Engineering, UNSW, for the Taste of Research Summer Scholarship.
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Lam, S.W., Soetanto, A. & Amal, R. Self-cleaning performance of polycarbonate surfaces coated with titania nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 11, 1971–1979 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9555-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9555-0