Optical and photocatalytic properties of TiO₂ nanoplumes

Here we report the photocatalytic efficiency of hydrogenated TiO₂ nanoplumes studied by measuring dye degradation in water. Nanoplumes were synthesized by peroxide etching of Ti films with different thicknesses. Structural characterization was carried out by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. We investigated in detail the optical properties of the synthesized material and related them to the efficiency of UV photodegradation of methylene blue dye. The obtained results show that TiO₂ nanoplumes act as an effective antireflective layer increasing the UV photocatalytic yield of the film.