Properties of TiO2 thin films prepared using sol–gel process

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films were prepared using a sol–gel process and applying between two and five coating layers onto the surface of borosilicate glass slides and 304 stainless steel sheets. The physical properties of the multilayer TiO2 thin films on both of the substrates under the same fabrication process were systematically compared. Our results indicate that the crystalline phase structure of the prepared TiO2 thin film was entirely composed of anatase with an optical band gap of 3·27 eV. The grain sizes of the TiO2 crystals in the films on the glass slides and the stainless steel sheets were in the ranges of 15–100 nm and 20–250 nm respectively. The results suggested that at least three layers of coating were required to produce the TiO2 thin film with the desired range of properties.