The concept of multifunctional materials has arisen in the scope of energy-saving strategies. Zinc oxide is an ideal candidate for the preparation of multifunctional materials due to its various intrinsic properties (unspecific sorption capacity, photoactivity under near UV light, etc). For instance, a recent article revealed a higher photocatalytic activity of ZnO under solar light in comparison that of titania. In this study, multifunctional thin films were designed and built up using ZnO-based nanoparticles prepared by different colloidal chemistry synthesis routes.

Self-cleaning and antireflective coatings were obtained with Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique using monodisperse sols of nearly spherical ZnO particles with 3 nm (Meulenkamp EA, J. Phys Chem. B 102 (1998) 5566) and 110-410 nm (Seelig EW et al., Mater. Chem. Phys. 80 (2003) 257) mean diameter. Mono- and multilayered LB films were prepared from identical ZnO particles. Mixed and complex LB films were also obtained from ZnO and silica particles. Optical model fitting confirmed the establishment of complex layered structures. The transmittance of glass substrate was increased (antireflective effect) in a broad range of wavelengths (visible-near infrared) depending on the size of particles, number and sequence of layers. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was interpreted as a function of availability of ZnO surface in the films.

Porous ceramic membranes were considered for coupling separation and photocatalysis. A concentrated (350 mg.L^-1 solid content) hydrosol of core/shell silica/ZnO particles was first prepared for the deposition of membranes by dip coating or slip-casting techniques. The membrane properties investigated with a tangential filtration device showed adequacy for ultrafiltration applications. The photocatalytic activity of the membrane material was investigated from the photodegradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution and of adsorbed stearic acid.

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