Development of Microtextured Photocatalytic Surface by Vibration-Assisted Scratching

It is known that the TiO2 has some photocatalytic functions, even though they are relatively weak and their further enhancements are necessary for wider practical usages. On the other hand, improving materials surface functions by introducing microtextures is of great interest in various fields. Under such circumstances, the present study is aiming at developing a high-functional photocatalytic surface by earning the real surface area and reducing the light reflection and so on with the support of microtexturing technique. In this work, a pure Ti plate surface, which was covered with numerous micro impressions and micro pile-ups formed by the vibration-assisted microscratching, was anodized in order to obtain a regularly microtextured TiO2 film on the uppermost surface of Ti plate, and its wettabilty was evaluated in order to investigate its potential as the photocatalyst. As a result, it was found that the wettability of the TiO2 film surface regularly microtextured by the vibration-assisted microscratching was superior to those of the mirror finished one under the irradiation environment by the ultraviolet rays.