Investigation into the effects of deposition parameters on TiO 2 photocatalyst thin films by rf magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2) photocatalyst thin films were deposited on non-alkali glass substrates by radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering. The Taguchi method with orthogonal array, signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance were employed to study the performance characteristics. The experimental studies were conducted under different rf powers, sputtering pressures, O 2/(Ar+O 2) flow-rate ratios, and substrate temperatures. The deposited TiO 2 films were of the anatase phase with a (101) preferred orientation. We performed both photoinduced decomposition of methylene blue (MB) and photoinduced hydrophilicity under UV light illumination. With the optimized TiO 2 photocatalyst thin film deposition conditions, the water contact angle after 9 min UV illumination was approximately 5 ∘, the absorbance of MB was reduced to 0.2 for 240 min UV irradiation, and the deposition rate was 34.18 Å/min.