Self-Cleaning TiO₂/SiO₂ Thin Film Prepared by a Simple Sol-Gel Method

TiO2 thin films were prepared on SiO2-coated glass substrates using sols deriving from high concentration titanyl sulfate solution by the spin-coating technique. The calcined films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy. The film exhibited high transmittance in the visible light region and high absorption in the ultraviolet region. The contact angle of SiO2/TiO2 decreased to below 5° under 30 min of UV light irradiation and can sustain for 1 weeks.