Fabrication of SWCNT/TiO2 for Creating Self-Cleaning Property on the Glass

Abstract

The significance of this research is to fabricate a SWCNT/TiO2 composite that has the self-cleaning property to be coated on glass. It has been observed that the surface of the glass tends to get dirty and dusty with time. The objectives of this paper are to compare and analyze the transmittance and also the photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite solutions prepared. The method used to fabricate this composite is sol-gel synthesis as it has a higher dispersion and is easiest way to use and the method used to coat the solution on substrate is spin coating method since it has a uniform coating compared to other methods. It is important to ensure that the solution prepared is transparent so as to ease the coating process. 20 different samples were fabricated using different SWCNT and TiO2 composition. In order to analyze transparency and photocatalytic activity, two different characterizations was conducted namely Fourier Transform Infrared Radiation spectroscopy (FTIR) for transmittance and Ultraviolet Visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-vis) for methylene blue (MB) concentration photodegradation. The highest transmittance obtained was (a) 10ml of TiO2, 0.04g SWCNT which was 82.2% and (b) 10ml of TiO2, 0.06g SWCNT which was 73.2% of transmittance. Also, the lowest concentrations achieved by MB are (a) 10ml of TiO2, 0.06g CNT which was 2.48mg/L and (b) 7.5ml TiO2, 0.02g CNT which was 3.1mg/L. By comparing the transmittance and photocatalytic activity, the highest efficiency obtained were (a) 10ml TiO2, 0.06g CNT which was 64.6% and also (b) 7.5ml TiO2, 0.04g CNT which was 56.3%.