The Effect of Polyethylene Glycol Addition on Wettability and Optical Properties of GO/TiO2 Thin Film

Abstract

Modification has been made to TiO2 thin film to improve the wettability and the absorption of light. The sol-gel spin coating method was successfully used to synthesize GO/TiO2 thin films using a titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) as a precursor. Different amounts of polyethylene glycol (PEG) (20 to 100 mg) were added into the parent sol solution to improve the optical properties and wettability of the GO/TiO2 thin film. The effect of different amounts of PEG was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the phase composition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for microstructure observation, atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the surface topography, ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry (UV-VIS) for the optical properties and wettability of the thin films by measuring the water contact angle. The XRD analysis showed the amorphous phase. The SEM and AFM images revealed that the particles were less agglomerated and surface roughness increases from 1.21 × 102 to 2.63 × 102 nm when the amount of PEG increased. The wettability analysis results show that the water contact angle of the thin film decreased to 27.52° with the increase of PEG to 80 mg which indicated that the thin film has hydrophilic properties. The optical properties also improved significantly, where the light absorbance wavelength became wider and the band gap was reduced from 3.31 to 2.82 eV with the presence of PEG.

Electrospun Materials Based on Cellulose Acetate Loaded with Rosmarinic Acid with Antioxidant and Antifungal Properties

“…A significant decrease in the water contact angle value was detected by adding the water-soluble PEG to the spinning solution and, respectively, to the composition of the non-woven materials. This increase in wettability is well described in the literature [30]. Both electrospun CA/PEG and CA/PEG/RA non-woven materials were superhydrophilic, possessing water contact angle values of 0°.…”