UV assisted photoelectrocatalytic degradation of reactive red 152 dye using spray deposited TiO2 thin films

Abstract

TiO2 thin films have been deposited onto glass and FTO coated glass substrates using spray pyrolysis method. The effect of substrate temperature on the structural, morphological and photoelectrocatalytic properties of TiO2 thin films are studied. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) study shows that, both short circuit current (Isc) and open circuit voltage (Voc) are (Isc = 0.475 mA and Voc = 0.395 V) relatively higher at 400 °C substrate temperature. The structure and morphology of TiO2 thin films are studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). XRD study reveals that the films are polycrystalline in nature with tetragonal crystal structure. FE-SEM images show that the substrate surface is well covered with a uniform grain like morphology. Photoelectrocatalytic degradation of reactive red 152 dye in aqueous solutions is studied. The end result shows that the degradation percentage of reactive red 152 using TiO2 photoelectrode has reached 70% under ultraviolet light illumination after 120 min. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.