Development of hydrophilic self-cleaning surfaces using cu-doped titanium dioxide/pva/ga on ceramic wall tiles
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Date
2019-06
Authors
Chew Wei Chun
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Abstract
Superhydrophilic properties allow surfaces to be cleaned easily through complete
wetting of water when in contact with the surfaces of wall tiles. The main focus in this
research is to develop a hydrophilic coating on ceramic glazed wall tiles for self-cleaning
purpose. The newly developed hydrophilic coating incorporated of TiO2 due to its
hydrophilic nature. Copper doped Titania (Cu-doped TiO2) nanotubes was synthesized
using hydrothermal method, which the aim is to reduce the band gap of TiO2 by doping of
Cu2+ ion. The synthesis of Cu-doped TiO2 nanotubes managed to reduce the band gap of
TiO2 from 3.2 eV to 2.09 eV and increases the photocatalytic performance of TiO2.
Meanwhile, PVA/GA was used as the solvent to dissolve Cu-doped TiO2 and hold Cudoped TiO2 on the surface of wall tiles. In order to reduce the water solubility of PVA, GA
was used as crosslinking agent to form bonds between PVA. The tiles was dip coated and
the optimum coating layer determined was 5 layers based on the appearance and WCA
results. The best water contact angle obtained was 37.45°. The results obtained showed that
the newly developed coating was in hydrophilic region (< 90º), which are slightly higher
than superhydrophilic region (< 10º).