This study investigated the influence of the ultraviolet (UV) dose (
) on the photodeposition of MnO
x and Pd cocatalysts on 300-nm-thick anatase TiO
2 thin films, which were prepared via sol–gel dip-coating on a glass substrate. MnO
x
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This study investigated the influence of the ultraviolet (UV) dose (
) on the photodeposition of MnO
x and Pd cocatalysts on 300-nm-thick anatase TiO
2 thin films, which were prepared via sol–gel dip-coating on a glass substrate. MnO
x and Pd were photodeposited using increasing UV doses ranging from 5 to 20 J cm
−2, from 5 mM aqueous electrolytes based on Mn
2+/IO
3− or Pd
2+, respectively. The effect of the
on the MnO
x photodeposition resulted in an increase in Mn
2+ surface content, from 2.7 to 5.2 at.%, as determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). For Pd, increasing the UV dose led to a reduction in the oxidation state, transitioning from Pd
2+ to Pd
0, while the overall Pd surface content range remained relatively steady at 2.2–2.4 at.%. Both MnO
x/TiO
2 and Pd/TiO
2 exhibited proportional enhancements in photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of methylene blue. Notably, Pd/TiO
2 demonstrated a significant improvement in photocatalytic performance, surpassing that of pristine TiO
2. In contrast, TiO
2 samples functionalized through wet impregnation and thermal treatment in the same electrolytes showed overall lower photocatalytic activity compared to those functionalized via photodeposition.
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