Experimental investigation of the efficiency of deposited TiO2 on porous aluminum in pollutant removal: a comparison between PEO and anodizing methods

The purpose of the present work is to provide a suitable substrate for the deposition of titanium dioxide as a photocatalyst on aluminum. Due to the weak adhesion of photocatalysts to aluminum, there is no possibility of adhering photocatalysts to its surface or the lifetime is very short. For this reason, in this study, the adhesion between TiO2 and aluminum substrate is enhanced by the creation of micron pores on the substrate surface using two methods of anodizing and Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) and the results of the two methods are compared. Experiments were carried out to investigate the dye removal over time using Rhodamine 6G aqueous solution in the presence of UV light. SEM images were also prepared from the surface of TiO2-coated aluminum substrates. The results of the study showed that the density of pores on the aluminum surface, and consequently, the dye removal in the PEO method were higher than those of conventional anodizing. In addition, although the dye removal in the PEO method is increased compared to the anodizing method, the overall process time and energy consumption in this method, especially in the pulse mode, were less than those of the anodizing method.