## 3 Results and Discussion
### Membrane Morphology
Figure 2: Surface scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of a (**a**) Poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (POEM)-directed TiO\({}_{2}\) film on FTO glass; (**b,c**) the bare Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane; and (**d,e**) the POEM-directed TiO\({}_{2}\) film on the Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane. TEM and HR-TEM analyses were performed to characterize the crystalline properties and morphology of the TiO\({}_{2}\) film. The TEM image in Figure 5a confirmed that the POEM-templated TiO\({}_{2}\) structure is composed of uniform and well-interconnected nanoparticles. The HR-TEM and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern in Figure 5b reveal that the TiO\({}_{2}\) structure is highly crystalline with a _d_-spacing value of approximately 0.35 nm, consistent with the (101) plane of the anatase TiO\({}_{2}\) phase. In general, these results indicate that the POEM-assisted TiO\({}_{2}\) structure is highly crystalline and well organized. Figure 4: Cross sectional SEM images of the (**a,b**) bare Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane and (**c,d**) POEM-directed TiO\({}_{2}\) film on the Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane. Figure 3: (**a**) Surface SEM image and (**b**) the corresponding EDS elemental (Ti) mapping image of POEM-directed TiO\({}_{2}\) films on Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane. For detailed characterization of the crystalline properties, XRD analysis was conducted for the POEM-directed TiO\({}_{2}\) film deposited on the Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane, as shown in Figure 6. The sharp diffraction peaks are attributed to the TiO\({}_{2}\) and Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) phases. The highly crystalline Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) patterns marked in Figure 6 match the \(\alpha\)-phase of alumina (Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\)) (JCPDS Card No. 10-0173). The TiO\({}_{2}\) peaks at 2\(\theta\) = 25.5, 37.7 and 61.2\({}^{\circ}\) correspond to the (101), (004), and (115) planes of anatase TiO\({}_{2}\) (JCPDS Card No. 21-1272). The anatase phase is widely known to be more effective for photocatalytic reactions than the rutile and brookite phases [9; 19]. From the XRD results, it was concluded that the organic species were completely removed and that a highly crystalline anatase TiO\({}_{2}\) structure was obtained after calcination at 450 \({}^{\circ}\)C.  
The three-dimensional morphology and structure of the POEM-directed TiO\({}_{2}\) film on the Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane and the bare Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane were investigated by AFM analysis. The topographical images and root-mean-square roughness (\(R_{rms}\)) of the membranes were obtained, as shown in Figure 7. The \(R_{rms}\) value for the bare Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane was 24.83 nm, resulting from its macroporous morphology. Figure 5: (**a**) Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image and (**b**) high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) image (inset: selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern) of the TiO\({}_{2}\) film templated by POEM. Figure 6: X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the POEM-directed TiO\({}_{2}\) film on the Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane. With the introduction of a TiO\({}_{2}\) film templated by POEM, the value for the TiO\({}_{2}\)/Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane was reduced to 5.56 nm. The decreased surface roughness is thus the result of the formation of a uniform TiO\({}_{2}\) structure on the macroporous Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) membrane.