TY - JOUR

T1 - Photo-induced changes in the Langmuir adsorption constants of metal oxide layers in self-cleaning cation sensors.

AU - Foran, Philip

AU - Boxall, Colin

N1 - Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - For the first time, we have used a metal oxide-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to measure Cs+ adsorption onto illuminated and un-illuminated mesoporous TiO2 (m-TiO2) films by microgravimetric means in-situ. In the simplest case, such experiments yield two parameters of interest: K, the Langmuir adsorption coefficient and mmax the maximum mass of adsorbate to form a complete monolayer at the m-TiO2-coated quartz crystal piezoelectric surface. Importantly, we have found that illumination of the m-TiO2 film with ultra bandgap light results in an increase in mmax i.e. illumination allows for greater adsorption of substrate to occur than in the dark. Our studies also show that under illumination, K also increases indicating a higher affinity for surface adsorption. The photoinduced change in mmax and K are thought to be due to an increase in surface bound titanol groups, thus increasing the number of available adsorption sites – and so providing evidence to support the notion of photoinduced adsorption processes in photocatalytic systems. These findings have implications for the development of a reversible adsorption based microgravimetric sensor for Cs+.

AB - For the first time, we have used a metal oxide-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to measure Cs+ adsorption onto illuminated and un-illuminated mesoporous TiO2 (m-TiO2) films by microgravimetric means in-situ. In the simplest case, such experiments yield two parameters of interest: K, the Langmuir adsorption coefficient and mmax the maximum mass of adsorbate to form a complete monolayer at the m-TiO2-coated quartz crystal piezoelectric surface. Importantly, we have found that illumination of the m-TiO2 film with ultra bandgap light results in an increase in mmax i.e. illumination allows for greater adsorption of substrate to occur than in the dark. Our studies also show that under illumination, K also increases indicating a higher affinity for surface adsorption. The photoinduced change in mmax and K are thought to be due to an increase in surface bound titanol groups, thus increasing the number of available adsorption sites – and so providing evidence to support the notion of photoinduced adsorption processes in photocatalytic systems. These findings have implications for the development of a reversible adsorption based microgravimetric sensor for Cs+.

KW - piezoresponse

KW - sensor

KW - thin film

U2 - 10.1557/opl.2012.193

DO - 10.1557/opl.2012.193

M3 - Journal article

VL - 1406

JO - MRS Online Proceedings Library

JF - MRS Online Proceedings Library

SN - 1946-4274

M1 - mrsf11-1406-z18-12

ER -