The work presented here describes the preparation of transparent interstitial boron-doped TiO2 thin-films by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD). The interstitial boron-doping, on TiO2, proved by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), is shown to enhance the crystallinity and significantly improve the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 films. The synthesis, highly suitable for a reel-to-reel process, has been carried out in one step.

UV and visible light photocatalytic composite Pt and Au-TiO coatings have been deposited on silicon and glass substrates at low temperature using a hybrid ECWR-PECVD/MS-PVD process. Methylene blue, stearic acid, and sulfamethoxazole were used as dye, organic, and antibiotic model pollutants, respectively, to demonstrate the efficiency of these nanocomposite coatings for water decontamination or self-cleaning surfaces applications. Raman investigations revealed the formation of anatase polymorph of TiO in all synthesized coatings with a shifting of the main vibrational mode peak to higher wavenumber in the case of Au-TiO coating, indicating an increase number of crystalline defects within this coating. Because of the difference of the chemical potentials of each of the investigated noble metals, the sputtered metal layers exhibit different morphology. Pt sputtered atoms, with high surface adhesion, promote formation of a smooth 2D layer. On the other hand, Au sputtered atoms with higher cohesive forces promote the formation of 5-10 nm nanoparticles. As a result, the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon was observed in the Au-TiO coatings. UV photoactivity of the nanocomposite coatings was enhanced 1.5-3 times and 1.3 times for methylene blue and stearic acid, respectively, thanks to the enhancement of electron trapping in the noble metal layer. This electron trapping phenomenon is higher in the Pt-TiO coating because of its larger work function. On the other hand, the enhancement of the visible photoactivity was more pronounced (3 and 7 times for methylene blue and stearic acid, respectively) in the case of Au-TiO thanks to the surface plasmon resonance. Finally, these nanocomposite TiO coatings exhibited also a good ability for the degradation of antibiotics usually found in wastewater such as sulfamethoxazole. However, a complementary test have showed an increase of the toxicity of the liquid medium after photocatalysis, which could be due the presence of sulfamethoxazole's transformation byproducts.

Synthesis of boron-doped anatase TiO2 thin films on temperature-sensitive polymeric optical fibres by AP-PECVD.

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Thin films of interstitial boron-doped anatase TiO2, with varying B concentrations, were deposited via one-step atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) on float glass substrates. The doped films showed a remarkable morphology and enhanced photoactivity when compared to their undoped analogues. The TiO2:B films also presented enhanced conductivity and electron mobility as measured by Hall Effect probe as well as a high adherence to the substrate, stability and extended lifetime. The structure and composition of the different samples of TiO2:B films were studied by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (D-SIMS). Hybrid density functional theory was used to explore the defect chemistry of B-doped anatase and to understand the experimental results.