Photocatalytic properties of carbon nanotubes/titania nanoparticles composite layers deposited by electrophoresis

To this aim we have investigated the possibility to deposit, by electrophoresis, composite layers formed by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and anatase-type titanium dioxide nanoparticles (np-TiO2), with different weight ratios. This method allows one to obtain photocatalytic layers on any conductive substrates that in principle can be re-used several times. The photocatalytic efficiency for each C-nanostructure/np-TiO2 composite layer is evaluated by measuring the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye induced by the light of a solar simulator or UVA/blue light irradiation. The morphology and the composition of the deposited layers are studied by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analyses, respectively, while photoluminescence spectra were acquired in order to explain the different photocatalytic behaviors observed for each material.