Enhancement of TiO2 photocatalytic activity by structuring the photocatalyst film as photonic sponge

A TiO₂ film having "photonic sponge" architecture (ps-TiO₂) has been prepared using titania Degussa P25 nanoparticles that have been infiltrated into a template obtained through the arrangement of a mixture of different size latex spheres. The resulting photonic sponge exhibits 3.3 fold higher initial photocatalytic degradation rate for succinonitrile disappearance than analogous films of the same thickness made of unstructured P25 TiO₂ nanoparticles. When corrected for the three fold lower mass of the ps-TiO₂ films with respect to more dense P25, the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity by the photonic sponge morphology for the same mass of photocatalyst is about one order of magnitude. It was also observed that films of photonic sponge of 3 μm depth are more efficient than thicker films (5 and 7 μm).