Tio₂/cu Nanocomposite Plating Coatings Formed On Anodic Alumina

TiO2/Cu nanocomposite coatings were prepared on the adjusted anodic alumina which were anodized in both sulfuric and oxalic acids using nanocomposite plating technology. And the corrosion behavior, microstructure, phase structure and photocatalytic property of the nanocomposite coatings were investigated using electrochemical method, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and spectrophotometer. Through systemically experimental study, these results were obtained as follow.1. TiO2/Cu nanocomposite coatings are successfully prepared on anodized films, whose pores are widened, formed on aluminum in both sulfuric and oxalic acids.2. The electrochemically experimental results show that the corrosion resistance of the TiO2/Cu nanocomposite coatings on the anodic alumina formed in oxalic acid is better than that of the coatings on the sulfuric acid-anodized aluminum under the same conditions. Moreover, the corrosion resistance of the two kinds of TiO2/Cu nanocomposite coatings is better than that of the corresponding pure Cu plating coating.3. The microstructure of the TiO2/Cu nanocomposite coating shows that adding TiO2 nanoparticles is beneficial to greatly improve surface density and smoothness, and to obtain homogeneous and fine structure.4. The photocatalytic test results show that the nanocomposite coatings formed on the oxalic and sulfuric anodized films all can make both the concentration and the absorbency of methyl orange solution reduce with increasing times, whereas there is no such effect for plating coating without TiO2 nanoparticles. This not only indicates that the nanocomposite coatings possess photocatalysis property but also proves that there really exist TiO2 particles in the coatings. Also, it is found that these two kinds of TiO2/Cu nanocomposite coatings exhibit similar effect of photocatalytic degradation on methyl orange solution.