Methylene blue photoelectrodegradation under UV irradiation on Au/Pd-modified TiO2 films

In this work TiO2 thin films were modified with gold/palladium (Au/Pd) bimetallic paticles by sputtering method. TiO2 films were deposited on ITO (SnO2:In) by Doctor Blade method and post-anneling. The properties of the films were studied through measurements of XRD (X-ray diffraction) and AFM (atomic force microscopy). The degradation of methylene blue was studied by UV-irradiated pure TiO2 and Au/Pd-modified TiO2 in aqueous solution. Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was used to obtain kinetic information. Photocatalytic study indicated that Au/Pd-modified TiO2 photocatalytic activity was better than TiO2 pure; the best half-life time for Au/Pd-modified TiO2 in photodegradation was 2.8 times smaller than TiO2 pure; finally the efficiency in methylene blue photodegradation was improved from 23% to 43% when Au/Pd-modified TiO2 films were used.