UV Irradiation as a Versatile Low-Temperature Strategy for Fabricating Templated Mesoporous Titania Films

Mesoporous titania thin films offer promising applications in sensors, batteries, and solar cells. The traditional soft templating methods rely on high-temperature calcination, which is energy-intensive, incompatible with thermosensitive flexible substrates, and destructive for titania structures. This work demonstrates UV irradiation as a versatile low-temperature and energy-saving alternative for mesoporous crystalline titania fabrication. Grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering analysis reveals a three-stage crystallization process with increasing UV irradiation time supported by photoluminescence data. UV-irradiation-derived samples exhibit crystallinity and crystal size comparable to that of calcination. Integration with block copolymer templated sol–gel synthesis enables the creation of various morphologies, including cylindrical, ordered spherical, and hybrid structures. Characterizations via scanning electron microscopy and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering confirm the homogeneity of morphology in the resulting films. The resulting films maintain similar optical properties despite morphological differences, as demonstrated by photoluminescence and UV–vis measurements. The versatility of UV irradiation extends to different titanium precursors, underscoring it as a flexible and efficient method for mesoporous titania thin film fabrication at low temperatures.