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Visible light-induced super-hydrophilic anatase porous thin film with easy-to-clean and antifogging properties

  • Original Paper: Functional coatings, thin films and membranes (including deposition techniques)
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Abstract

Atmospheric dust on the surface of modern building glass requires frequent cleaning to keep high diaphaneity and esthetics. Visible light-induced super-hydrophilic anatase porous thin films with easy-to-clean and antifogging properties were controllably synthesized through the neutralization of ammonia and nitric acid-driven phase separation by sol–gel spin coating method. Surface microstructure, root-mean-squared roughness, crystalline structure, surface chemical composition, transmittance, hydrophilic, antifogging, and easy-to-clean properties of the films were characterized by super depth of field microscopy, atomic-force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared spectrophotometer and automatic contact angle measuring device, respectively. With NH3·H2O concentration increasing from 0.7 to 1.1 vol.%, the average pore size of anatase porous thin films increases from 1.05 to 2.36 μm and the water contact angles decrease from 5.2° to 1.7° under 100-lux visible light irradiation (400–800 nm). Besides, the larger NH3·H2O concentration, the larger root-mean-squared roughness roughness, ranging from 5.67 to 88.00 nm. Moreover, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results demonstrate that there are Ti–O bonds and Si–O bonds on the samples surface, indicating that porous area bottom is Si–O bonds by soda-lime glass. These films exhibit excellent visible light-induced super-hydrophilic, antifogging and easy-to-clean properties, which make them suitable to be used in modern buildings and automotive glass.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express sincere thanks for the financial supports by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (5137217), the Hubei Province Foreign Science and Technology Project (2016AHB027) and the Science and Technology Planning Project of Hubei Province (2014BAA136).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures of Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Hong Li, Naiyi Li, Yanwen Zhang & Huiting He

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1595, USA

    Zirui Liu

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  1. Hong Li
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  2. Naiyi Li
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Correspondence to Hong Li.

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Li, H., Li, N., Zhang, Y. et al. Visible light-induced super-hydrophilic anatase porous thin film with easy-to-clean and antifogging properties. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 83, 502–517 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4448-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4448-2

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