Back to Search
Start Over
Suppressing Structural Colors of Photocatalytic Optical Coatings on Glass: The Critical Role of SiO 2 .
- Source :
-
ACS applied materials & interfaces [ACS Appl Mater Interfaces] 2017 Apr 26; Vol. 9 (16), pp. 14093-14102. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Apr 13. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- The appearance of structural colors on coated-glass is a critical esthetical drawback toward industrialization of photocatalytic coatings on windows for architecture or automobile. Herein we describe a rational approach to suppress the structural color of mesoporous TiO <subscript>2</subscript> -based coatings preserving photoactivity and mechanical stiffness. Addition of SiO <subscript>2</subscript> as third component is discussed. Ti <subscript>x</subscript> Si <subscript>(1-x)</subscript> O <subscript>2</subscript> mesoporous coatings were fabricated by one-step liquid deposition process through the evaporation induced self-assembling and characterized by GI-SAXS, GI-WAXS, electron microscopies, and in situ Environmental Ellipsometry Porosimetry. Guided by optical simulation, we investigated the critical role of SiO <subscript>2</subscript> on the optical responses of the films but also on the structural, mechanical, and photocatalytic properties, important requirements to go toward real applications. We demonstrate that adding SiO <subscript>2</subscript> to porous TiO <subscript>2</subscript> allows tuning and suppression of structural colors through refractive index matching and up to 160% increase in mechanical stiffening of the films. This study leads us to demonstrate an example of "invisible" coating, in which the light reflection is angle- and thickness-independent, and exhibiting high porosity, mechanical stiffness, and photoactivity.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1944-8252
- Volume :
- 9
- Issue :
- 16
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- ACS applied materials & interfaces
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 28398035
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b02233