Superhydrophilic Cu-doped TiO2 thin film for solar-driven photocatalysis

Nanosized Cu-doped TiO2 film was prepared by the sol-gel spin coating technique. XPS analysis showed that Cu atoms had been successfully doped into TiO2 lattice, which hence modified the surface chemical composition. As a result, the Cu-doped TiO2 thin film possessed a superhydrophilic surface with a water contact angle (WCA) only 5.1° and exhibited excellent anti-fogging behavior. The Cu-doped TiO2 thin film also exhibited a much better photocatalytic activity than the reference TiO2 thin film, as evaluated by the degradation of 10 mg/L methylene blue (MB) solution under simulated solar-driven irradiation.