Abstract
Mesoporous TiO2 films are synthesized through evaporation-induced self-assembly using poly(ethylene oxide-b-ε-caprolactone) diblock copolymers as a soft-template. Using small-angle X-ray scattering and scanning electron microscopy, we investigate the effect of
the TiO2/PEO-b-PCL ratio on the resulting nanoarchitectonic structure. After sputter-coating Au and Pt layers, these Au/TiO2 and Pt/TiO2 nanocomposite films display drastically enhanced photodegradation of rhodamine 6G under ultraviolet irradiation,
due to the metal films inhibiting the rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers.