Photocatalytic activities of TiO2 and TiO2/Al2O3 films coated on foam nickel substrates

Anatase TiO2 and TiO2/Al2O3 films were successfully prepared on foam nickel substrates by sol-gel technique. The characteristics and photocatalytic activities of the TiO2 and TiO2/Al2O3 films were investigated by XRD, FE-SEM, etc and by photocatalytic degradation reactions of gaseous acetaldehyde under ultraviolet light irradiation, respectively. The TiO2 and TiO2/Al2O3 films coated on foam nickel substrates display a high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of acetaldehyde. Compared with the onefold TiO2 films coated on foam nickel, the TiO2/Al2O3 films show much higher photocatalytic activities. It is confirmed that photocatalytic activities and stabilities are enhanced by coating Al2O3 as transition layer on foam nickel, which increase the specific surface areas of substrate surface and absorption property, resulting in increase in the photocatalytic activity.