Super-hydrophilicity of TiO2/SnO2 Composite Film

TiO2/SnO2 composite thin films were prepared on soda-lime glass with the sol-gel method. The influence of SnO2 doping concentration, heat-treatment temperature and film thickness on the super-hydrophilicity and photocatalytic activity of the composite films was studied by XRD, XPS, UV-spectra, measuring the contact angle and the degradation of methyl orange. The results indicate that the doping of SnO2 into TiO2 can improve their hydrophilicity and photocatalytic activity, and the composite film with 1%-5% SnO2 and heat-treated at 450℃ is of super-hydrophilicity. The optimal SnO2 concentration for the photocatalytic activity is 10% and larger film thickness is helpful to reduce the contact angle of the composite films.