A New Electrochemical Method To Prepare Mesoporous Titanium(IV) Oxide Photocatalyst Fixed on Alumite Substrate

A TiO 2 film was deposited onto alumite using an electrochemical technique, where the initial electrodeposition was carried out by ac electrolysis in (NH 4 ) 2 [TiO(C 2 O 4 ) 2 ] solution, followed by pulse electrolysis in TiCl 3 . This is a new method to prepare a mesoporous TiO 2 photocatalyst film consisting of nanosized particles and to directly fix them onto the alumite substrate (Al/Al 2 O 3 ). The sizes of the TiO 2 particles in the prepared film were about 5 nm, and they consisted of mixtures of the anatase, rutile, and amorphous phases. This film had a high catalytic activity for the decomposition of acetaldehyde even under fluorescent lamp illumination. Moreover, the preparation cost is very low compared with other methods. Therefore, the prepared Al/Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 plate is very useful for the practical photodecomposition of chemical contaminants in the atmosphere. The mechanisms of the TiO 2 deposition and the photocatalysis are discussed.