Fabrication of TiO₂ and Poly(Styrene Sulfonate) Nanocomposite Films and Their Application in Photocatalytic Degradation for Methylene Blue

Abstract

Photocatalytic nanocomposite films with different number of bilayers were prepared via an electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly method. These LbL films were further characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurement. The results indicate that TiO₂ nanoparticles are successfully incorporated into the thin films. The as-prepared (PSS/TiO₂)n films present good performance for photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue (MB). Moreover, the influence of bilayers number of nanocomposite films as well as initial concentration of MB solution was also studied. The results show that the increase of the bilayers number and the decrease of MB concentration are in favor of the MB removal. However, a marked inhibition on MB degradation is found by dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) at different concentrations. Taking advantage of immobilization of catalysts on glass slides, the problem of recovery is solved.