Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysts for Self-Cleaning Transparent Surfaces

Highly transparent photocatalytic self-cleaning surfaces capable of harvesting near-visible (365–430 nm) photons were synthesized and characterized. This helps to address a current research gap in self-cleaning surfaces, in which photocatalytic coatings that exhibit activity at wavelengths longer than ultraviolet (UV) generally have poor optical transparency, because of broadband scattering and the attenuation of visible light. In this work, the wavelength-dependent photocatalytic activity of Pt-modified TiO₂ (Pt-TiO₂) particles was characterized, which exhibited activity for wavelengths up to 430 nm. Pt-TiO₂ nanoparticles were embedded in a mesoporous SiO₂ sol–gel matrix, forming a superhydrophilic surface that allowed for water adsorption and formation of reactive oxide species upon illumination, resulting in the removal of organic surface contaminants. These self-cleaning surfaces only interact strongly with near-visible light (∼365–430 nm), as characterized by photocatalytic self-cleaning tests. Broadband visible transparency was preserved by generating a morphology composed of small clusters of Pt-TiO₂ surrounded by a matrix of SiO₂, which limited diffuse visible light scattering and attenuation. The wavelength-dependent self-cleaning rate by the films was quantified using stearic acid degradation under both monochromatic and AM1.5G spectral illumination. By varying the film morphology, the average transmittance relative to bare glass can be tuned from ∼93%–99%, and the self-cleaning rate can be adjusted by more than an order of magnitude. Overall, the ability to utilize photocatalysts with tunable visible light activity, while maintaining broadband transparency, can enable the use of photocatalytic self-cleaning surfaces for applications where UV illumination is limited, such as touchscreen displays.