Preparation and photocatalytic performance of transparent titania film from monolayer titania quantum dots

• Novel titania quantum dots (MTQDs)are used to prepare titania film.
• MTQDs is monolayer and the thickness is only ∼0.4 nm.
• Self-assembly behavior and coffee-ring effect suppression of MTQDs are discussed.
• Transparent titania film is obtained at room temperature.
• Film photocatalytic performance is highly promoted by graphene loading.

By using monolayer titania quantum dots (MTQDs) colloid, a continuous and transparent ultrathin titania film was prepared simply by drop-cast or spray coating method at room temperature. The formation of this even and ultrathin film was not only because of the very thin thickness of two-dimensional MTQDs, but also because of the suppression of coffee-ring effect. The self-assembly behaviors of MTQDs were examined by AFM and the reason for the suppression of coffee-ring effect was discussed in detail. Furthermore, the photocatalytic performance of this MTQDs film was evaluated and an improvement was achieved by loading graphene. Comparison between MTQDs/graphene composite and sphere-shaped nanoTiO2/graphene composite indicated that, the face-to-face contact mode between MTQDs and graphene may contribute to the high activity of MTQDs/graphene composite.

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