Formation and Investigation of Photocatalytic Activities of TiO2/ZnO and TiO2/CuO Heterostructures on Nanostructured TiO2 Film Surfaces

In this study, the photocatalytic performance of each different oxide compound was investigated in three different stages on pure titanium surface by forming TiO2/ZnO and TiO2/CuO structures. Firstly; nanocomposite TiO2film structure was formed on pure titanium surface by electrochemical anodization technique. After this process, TiO2film surfaces were coated with Zn and Cu by electrolytic method. Zn and Cu coated specimens were heat treated at 500 oC for 2 hours to form TiO2/ZnO and TiO2/CuO structures. The crystal structure and surface morphology of the prepared samples were analyzed by X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscope. Photocatalytic performance tests were performed with absorbance measurements obtained from the methylene blue solution kept under ultraviolet light at certain time intervals. As a result of the tests, it is understood that the TiO2/ZnO sample has the best photocatalytic degradation performance and the reaction rate constant