Abstract
Titanium dioxide thin films were deposited using a Tween® surfactant modified non-aqueous sol-gel method onto fluorine doped tin oxide glass substrates. The surfactant concentration and type in the sols was varied as well as the number of deposited layers. The as deposited thin films were annealed at 500 °C for 15 min before characterisation and photocatalytic testing with resazurin intelligent ink. The films were characterised using scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Photocatalytic activity of the films was evaluated using a resazurin dye-ink test and the hydrophilicity of the films was analysed by water-contact angles measurements. Characterisation and photocatalytic testing has shown that the addition of surfactant in varying types and concentrations had a significant effect on the resulting thin film microstructure, such as changing the average particle size from 130 to 25 nm, and increasing the average root mean square roughness from 11 to 350 nm. Such structural changes have resulted in an enhanced photocatalytic performance for the thin films, with an observed reduction in dye half-life from 16.5 to three minutes.
Highlights
Semiconductor materials are of long standing research interest due to their practical applications as photocatalysts for environmental remediation, with specific focus on titanium dioxide owing to its durability and high performance
We have reported the use of Brij® surfactants in a non-aqueous sol-gel process to produce TiO2 thin films with an increased average particle size and increased surface roughness, whereby such structural changes led to an increase in the photocatalytic activity of produced
This paper focuses on the use of Tween® 20, 40 surfactants in a modified non-aqueous sol-gel method to investigate the effect of surfactant type and concentration on the subsequent microstructure and functional properties of TiO2 thin films
Summary
Semiconductor materials are of long standing research interest due to their practical applications as photocatalysts for environmental remediation, with specific focus on titanium dioxide owing to its durability and high performance. Sol-gel enables direct control of particle homogeneity during the particle growth phase, and as a result it is a popular strategy for simple modification of thin films for the properties listed above. TiO2 thin films [13] The use of such non-ionic surfactants in sol-gel processing is a commonplace strategy for the direct control of particle size and shape during the growth phase for the enhancement of resulting properties [14,15]. Due to their amphiphilic nature, surfactants act as pore-directing agents that can enable the production of highly porous materials with specific pore size and structure. This paper focuses on the use of Tween® 20, 40 surfactants in a modified non-aqueous sol-gel method to investigate the effect of surfactant type and concentration on the subsequent microstructure and functional properties of TiO2 thin films
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