Carbon nanotube based nanostructured thin films: preparation and application

Hybrid thin films of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and titania were fabricated on quartz slides by alternatively depositing MWCNT and titanium(IV) bis(ammonium lactato) dihydroxide (TALH) via a solution based layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly method followed by calcination to convert TALH to crystalline titania. The multilayer film build-up was monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy which indicated the linear growth of the film with the bilayer number. XRD confirmed the formation of anantase titania after heat treatment. The photocatalytic property of the hybrid thin film was evaluated by its capacity to degrade rhodamine B under the UV illumination. Compared with pure TiO2 film, experiments showed that the MWCNT/TiO2 hybrid film had a much higher photocatalytic activity under the same conditions. The first order rate constant of photocatalysis of 30 bilayers of hybrid film was approximately 8-fold higher than that of 30 bilayers of pure TiO2 film. In addition, the degradation efficiency of MWCNT/TiO2 hybrid thin film increased with its thickness while pure titania film remained unchanged. A 30 bilayers hybrid thin film that contains about 0.2 mg MWCNT/TiO2 catalyst was capable of completely degrading 10 mL of 2 mg/L Rh B solution within 5 hours. The results also indicated that the hybrid catalyst could be reused for several cycles.

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