Preparation of TiO2 thin film on stainless steel plate using sol-gel technique for photocatalytic reduction of chromium (Vi

Abstract

In this research, the main focus was to coat titanium dioxide thin films on stainless steel plate using the sol-gel method. The aims of this work were to investigate the factors influencing the film properties including molar ratio of ethanol and chemical additives, calcination temperature, and coating cycle. Polyethylene glycol with molecular weight 600 g/mol (PEG600) and diethylene glycol (DEG) were used as chemical additives. The results showed that these additives played an important roles in improving film adherence, corrosive resistance, and increasing film surface areas, resulting in high photocatalytic activity for chromium (VI) removal. Moreover, increase in calcination temperature and coating cycle provided high amount of anatase caused the highest activity for chromium (VI) removal. The Ti02 thin films prepared with the mole ratio of titanium precursor:ethanol:PEG600:DEG at 1:20:0.5:0.5 and calcination at 500℃ with 5-coating cycles exhibited the highest efficiency in photoreduction of chromium (VI) with 36.04% removal. The obtained results provided the fundamental information in Ti02 thin film synthesis which can be applied for full-scale reactor used industrial waste water treatment.