The effects of annealing temperatures on the structure and photocurrent response of nanoporous iron oxide film prepared by anodization of iron foil in an ethylene glycol, NH4F, and H2O electrolyte were studied. The as-anodized anodic film was found to be rather amorphous and crystallized to predominantly α-Fe2O3 upon annealing in nitrogen. Nitrogen was used as to reduce the thickening of the barrier layer which affects the photocurrent response of the oxide. However, annealing must be done above 300 °C to produce crystalline oxide but must be kept lower than 500 °C since high temperature promotes grain growth, destroying the nanoporous structure and also thickens the barrier layer, which significantly reduce the photocurrent of the film. Sample annealed at 450 °C in nitrogen has the highest photocurrent of 1.04 mA/cm2 (0.5 V versus Ag/AgCl in 1 M NaOH) compared to 0.13 mA/cm2 at 0.5 V for air-annealed sample.

Hydrophobic-hydrophilic patterns were formed on indium tin oxide substrates, and thick films of poly(phenylsilsesquioxane) (PhSiO3/2) particles, prepared by the sol-gel process, were selectively deposited onto hydrophilic areas of the substrates by electrophoresis. The films composed of PhSiO3/2 particles became transparent with morphological changes from aggregates of particles to a continuous phase after a heat treatment. After heat treatment at 200 °C, convex-shaped PhSiO3/2 micropatterns were formed on the hydrophilic region of the pattern. Moreover, the height of micropatterns was controlled by the deposition time. This patterning technique has a wide variety of applications such as fabrication of micro-optical components.

Considerable amounts of anatase nanocrystals were formed on the (100 − x)SiO2·xTiO2 coatings with x of 16.5 and 25 mol% with boiling water treatment, whereas the formation of anatase nanocrystals was not clearly observed for the coatings with x of 50 and 75 mol%. Despite the lower TiO2 content, the coatings with x of 16.5 and 25 mol% showed higher concentration of Si–O–Ti bonds among the coatings. Thus, the hydrolysis of Si–O–Ti bonds and resultant sites should facilitate the nucleation and growth of anatase nanocrystals. High transparency, high photocatalytic activity, and superhydrophilicity were demonstrated for the anatase nanocrystals-precipitated coatings.