Synergetic effect of Sb ion implantation on the optical and structural properties of single crystal rutile TiO2 (110)

Abstract

The present study investigates the synergetic influence of Sb ion implantation on the optical and structural properties of single crystal rutile TiO2 (110). The Implantation was carried out at various fluences using 2 MeV Sb ions. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Photoluminescence studies reveal the occurrence of an ion-induced annealing process which is remarkably responsible for the healing of defect states in the absence of any thermal treatment. Surprisingly, the ion-induced annealing appears to get activated only for the fluences of 1 × 1015 ions/cm2 and higher. At the fluence of 5 × 1015 ions/cm2, reduction in defect states, increase in crystallinity, increase in the photo absorption response (130 % in visible and 165 % in ultraviolet range), improved band-edge luminescence, and bandgap reduction (by ∼0.26 eV) is observed. The ion-induced annealing process effectively improves photo absorption properties without any thermal treatment. These results can play a pivotal role in photocatalysis applications.