Study on Photocatalytic Activity of Ni2+ Doped TiO2 Thin Films

For the sake of improving the self-cleaning performance of the ceramic insulator, TiO2 thin films and Ni2+ doped TiO2 thin films were prepared by sol-gel method. The crystalline phase and morphology was studied by analyzing XRD and AFM. The film's photocatalytic property was tested according to degradation of methyl orange solution. The results indicate that the film photocatalytic property decreases slightly when the TiO2 thin films were doped with Ni2+. It is suggested that the introduction of nickel ions actually added compound spaces of photo-generated carrier in the TiO2 thin film surface, leading to the recombination rate of electron hole pair increasing.