Abstract:
A novel nanocomposite coating containing titania, silica and lanthanum phosphate prepared through an
all aqueous sol–gel route exhibits excellent self-cleaning ability arising from the synergistic effect of the
constituents in the nanocomposite. A highly stable titania–silica–lanthanum phosphate nanocomposite
sol having particle size in the range of 30–50 nm has been synthesized starting from a titanyl sulphate
precursor, which was further used for the development of photocatalytically active composite coatings
on glass. The coatings prepared by the dip coating technique as well as the nanocomposite powders are
heat treated and characterized further for their morphology and multifunctionality. The nanocomposite
containing 1.5 wt% LaPO4 has shown a surface area as high as 138 m2 g−1 and a methylene blue degradation efficiency of 94% in two hours of UV exposure. The composite coating has shown very good
homogeneity evidenced by transparency as high as 99.5% and low wetting behaviour. The present novel
approach for energy conserving, aqueous derived, self-cleaning coatings may be suitable for large scale
industrial applications.
