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Comparison of methods for evaluation of activity of photocatalytic films
Morten E Simonsen1, Martin B Sørensen, Erik G Søgaard
1Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Aalborg University, Niels Bohrs Vej 8, 6700, Esbjerg, Denmark. mes@bio.aau.dk
Objective:
This work aims to investigate the correlation between the photocatalytic activity determined by methylene blue bleaching (DIN 52980), stearic acid degradation, and degradation of acetone in gas phase.
Method:
The photocatalytic TiO(2) coatings included in this investigation ranged from thin commercially available coatings (Activ(TM) and BioClean(TM)) and ready to use suspensions (Nano-X PK1245) to lab-produced PVD and sol-gel coatings. XRD analysis of the photocatalytic coatings showed that all the coatings consisted of nanocrystalline anatase, although the thickness and porosity varied considerably.
Results:
The study showed that the reproducibility of the activity measurements was good. However, more importantly, the investigation showed that there is a good correlation between the activities determined by the different methods even though the characteristics of the photocatalytic coatings and the organic probe molecules varied considerably.
Conclusion:
The overall findings of this work suggest that there is a good correlation between the investigated methods. These results are promising for the future work concerning standardization of methods for determination of the activity of photocatalytic films.
